Things aren't as they Seem
by Sentimental Suffragette
Summary: An alternate universe of the Harry Potter world. Lily, Alice, and James are still alive. Bellatrix is in the Order of the Phoenix, and she's married to Sirius (that's why this is rated T). And the prophesy is not what it seems to be...
1. Chapter 1

"Lily Potter, isn't it?"

The red-haired women squirmed against her restraints, grimaced, and said, "Yes, that's me. What do you want?"

"I assume you're going to tell me what a Mudblood like yourself was doing, sneaking into the Dark Lord's lair?"

"Dead first," Lily spat.

A ragged-looking man stepped out of the shadows. "Well, if that's the way you prefer it," he chuckled darkly.

Lily pondered her options of escape. It seemed almost hopeless, unless he would untie her for a second so that she could sprint off. That seemed like her best bet.

But then a familiar figure burst into the room and silently shot a stunning spell at the Death Eater. The man fell to the floor unconscious.

"Avery, you're nothing but trouble," said Bellatrix. She turned to her chained up friend. "Thank goodness you're alive, Lily," said Bellatrix. "We've been worried sick!"

Lily sighed with relief. "How'd you get here? I thought it was maximum security."

"I got here the same way as you did. Invisibility Charm. You aren't the only one who knows how to use them, you know," Bellatrix teased. She then whisked Lily's protruding wand from Avery's pocket and took out her own. "Alohomora."

Lily's chains came undone. Bellatrix then handed Lily's wand back to its owner.

"Now, we run," said Bellatrix, pulling Lily to her feet.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter paced the room uneasily. "Is Mum going to be ok?" he asked shakily.

James Potter patted his son's head. "I've never seen Bella fail a mission. I'm sure they'll both be fine," he said. He sounded confident, but his face was lined with worry.

Cheneya Black crossed the room and placed her hand on Harry's shoulder. "Your dad is right. My mum isn't easily defeated. So don't worry." Then a scowl came over her face. "I wanted to go, too, but my parents said no."

"That's right. It's far too dangerous," said Sirius, striding into the room. "And you're too young for such a mission."

"I'm 14, and there's a reason that I'm in Ravenclaw," said Cheneya huffily.

"Dad is only preventing you because he cares about you," said Marilu. "In all honesty, I don't want you to go either."

Cheneya's blazing green eyes softened at her sister's voice. "Oh, all right. But someday, I will go."

Harry glanced at the door and widened his eyes. "Mum!" he shouted, running into Lily's arms. Bellatrix followed after Lily as they both entered the room.

"Did you get what we need?" asked Dumbledore, who had been standing in the corner all this time.

Lily withdrew a small scroll from her pocket, smiling. "Yes."


	3. Chapter 3

"The prophesy," Alice breathed.

The scroll that Lily had found was spread out on the table. The members of the Order of the Phoenix were examining it.

"Clearly, its meaning isn't to be easily determined," Dumbledore mused. " _Neither can live while the other survives._ A rather ambiguous statement, if you ask me."

" _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies._ That's Harry, or Neville. They were both born at that time," said James.

"But, remember: _Neither can live while the other survives._ Unless you're suggesting that Harry and Neville are zombies, that's out of the question," Bellatrix pointed out.

"Or, perhaps, one of them will play some part in helping this mystery person to defeat the Dark Lord," said Nymphadora Tonks.

"Or both will," Mad Eye Moody speculated.

James snapped his fingers. "I have an idea!"

The others turned to him, curiously.

"What if there's two sides to Voldemort: one good and one evil. The evil side lives right now, so we must find its rival and bring it to life."

"But how?" asked Alice.

The adults sat in silence, pondering this. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron exchanged a glance. They were hiding underneath the invisibility cloak.

The two boys had heard everything that was said in that meeting.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry was awoken the next morning by a violent shove. "Wake up!" somebody yelled.

Harry jolted into wakefulness. He opened his eyes to identify the attacker only to see Cheneya, marching to the other side of the room to do the same thing to Ron.

"What was that all about?" Harry grumbled.

"Did you forget that school starts today? We have a train to catch!" Cheneya answered. Then she looked at him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "It isn't my fault that you stayed up eavesdropping on Order of the Phoenix meetings."

"Shush!" Ron hissed. "Do you want the adults to hear?"

Cheneya rolled her eyes. "The adults are downstairs. They won't hear." She sat down next to Harry on the bed. "Well? Tell me what you learned."

"Well, apparently, the person to defeat the Dark Lord was ' _born as the seventh month dies_ ' So they think it might be me or Neville," said Harry.

"But ' _neither can live as the other survives_ ' So that means that it's not exactly them that will be You-Know-Who's rival. But they might play some part in defeating him," said Ron

Cheneya nodded, processing what they had told her.

"And, also, my dad thinks that there might be a good side to Voldemort, and that is the being that will kill the evil," said Harry.

Cheneya gasped. "That's a good theory. That might actually be it!"

"But we don't know for sure," said Harry. "Nothing is for certain."

Ron shook his head and started out of the room. "This is too much to think about at this hour of the morning. Especially now that I'm hungry."


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey! Marilu!"

Marilu turned around to see her sister charging down the train's hallway. "There you are, Cheneya! I was just looking for you."

Cheneya skidded to a halt right in front of Marilu. "Alright, I can't believe I forgot to tell you this earlier, but you are not going to believe what I found out from Harry and Ron!"

Marilu pulled her sister into an empty compartment. "Tell me everything," she said, grinning.

Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville were having a discussion of their own about the previous night's meeting.

"What do they plan on doing to discover what the prophecy means?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," said Harry. "They didn't really have a plan."

"There must be some sort of spell," Hermione mused. "Something to see if someone has an alter ego, or whatever it is that your dad is proposing Voldemort has."

"Wouldn't the adults have thought of that by now?" asked Neville.

"Hermione thinks of things no one else does," said Harry, fondly.

"I think I read about that spell somewhere," Hermione continued. "I'll have to do some research on it."

Ron looked horrified. "School just started, and you're already planning a giant research project?"

"It's not a giant research project: all I want to know is how this spell works."

"All right," said Ron. "But what do you plan to do with that information?"

Hermione smirked. "What do you think?"

Ron groaned. "Oh no. Not another action packed year. Why can't we just leave the fighting to the adults?"

"Do you really want leave that to them?" asked Cheneya, who had appeared at the entrance to their train compartment, along with her sister. "I wouldn't mind an exciting year."

"Be careful what you wish for," said Neville.

Cheneya waved her hand dismissively. "I'm not the careful sort."

Marilu laughed. "Amen to that!"

"So, how does our adventure start?" asked Cheneya. "I missed most of your conversation."

"Our adventure starts with some research," said Hermione. "There's a spell I need to find."

Cheneya rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Count me in. I love research!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "I will never understand you, Cheneya. You talk nonstop about wanting an adventure, and yet you like to be stuck in the library researching stuff."

"She _is_ a Ravenclaw," Marilu noted.

Then the train crawled to a stop. They had arrived at Hogwarts.


	6. Chapter 6

Lily sifted through a stack of papers, trying to find a good place to start among the pages of notes she'd gathered. She sighed, then she glanced across the room and saw Bellatrix. Her friend looked every bit as burnt out as she was. Lily walked over and placed a hand on Bella's shoulder. "You look tired. You should get some rest."

Bellatrix shook her head. "I've got too much work to do. I have to sort out all the theories about the prophesy and find the most promising ones to start investigation. And then our work shift starts in two hours."

Alice, who was standing close by, corrected her, "Our shift starts in three hours."

"We've got time then," said Lily.

Alice nodded, then looked back at her friends. "What do you say we take a break and head over to the 3 Broomsticks? Like old times."

Bellatrix smiled. "Ditch the work and go drink butterbeer? That does sound like our childhood."

She set down her pile of papers. "I'm in."

Lily did the same. "I'm in, too."

Madam Rosmerta smiled widely when she saw the three women enter. "It's been a while, girls."

"Indeed it has," said Alice.

Madam Rosmerta leaned forward and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "So, what's happening in the Order? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named seems to be in hiding. That's good, right?"

"Depends on how you look at it. He could be getting weaker, or he could be gathering what he needs to launch another full-fledged attack. It won't help to be too optimistic, not when dealing with Voldemort," said Lily.

Madam Rosmerta tried to act nonchalant, but her hands tensed at the Dark Lord's name, a gesture not missed by Bellatrix.

"Fear will be our enemy, Rosmerta," Bellatrix warned. "If we can't even bear to say his name, how can we defeat him?"

Madam Rosmerta nodded. "Oh, all right. I suppose you have a point."

A customer walked in. Rosmerta looked at them and quickly asked, "Butterbeer, right?"

Bellatrix nodded, and Madam Rosmerta ran to take the order of the customer that had just come in.

Bellatrix, Lily, and Alice sat down at a table for three.

"We need to come here more often," said Lily. "I don't think it's healthy to work so much that you can't sit down for a minute to enjoy yourself."

"I agree," said Alice.

"Well, we already take Sunday off work," said Bellatrix. "But I get what you mean."

Madam Rosmerta came carrying three mugs of butterbeer, which she set on their table. "Enjoy," she said.

Bellatrix took a sip of butterbeer. "I miss my kids," she said suddenly.

Lily patted Bella's hand empathetically. "Don't we all?"

"The children gave life to that house. All of them did," said Alice. "By the way, thank you so much for letting Frank and Neville and I stay the summer at your house. I really appreciate it."

"Alice, the Dark Lord burned your house down! What was I going to do, let you sleep on the streets?" said Bellatrix. "Besides, I like having your family around. You can come whenever you like."

"I still can't believe that he burned your house down," said Lily, shaking her head.

"Well, that's what happens when you stand up to Voldemort," said Alice. "The reason that we put ourselves in danger is because we'd all be in greater danger if we did nothing."

"Hear, hear!" said Bellatrix, lifting her glass into the air.

"Here's to the Order," said Lily.

And they toasted to the success of the Order of the Phoenix.


	7. Chapter 7

The Great Hall buzzed with chatter. Hermione walked with Cheneya and Marilu, trying to locate some of her other friends. Then, out of nowhere, a finger of light flew beside her and curled around her waist. Hermione turned around and saw the stream of light winding through the crowd so that it eventually traced back to Fiona's wand. She smiled as Fiona followed the light all the way to her.

"So," said Hermione, "I see you've learned some spells over summer break."

Fiona grinned and nodded as she flicked her wand and the light faded away. "Mum was okay with it as long as I practiced in the basement. She doesn't want to risk the Ministry finding out."

"I didn't have to practice in the basement," said Hermione, "because I stayed at Grimmauld Place, which is extra secure."

Fiona shoved her playfully. "No need to show off."

Marilu walked up beside Fiona. "Ready for another year of Hufflepuff?"

Fiona gestured to her yellow and black tie. "Of course I am."

Hermione noticed Neville walking towards them (making a beeline for Fiona), and gently nudged her friend.

Fiona's face lit up like the summer sun upon seeing Neville.

"Hi, Nev," said Fiona as Neville approached.

"Hi, Fifi," Neville responded.

Hermione and Marilu exchanged a knowing glance. The exaggerated use of pet names was the tip of the iceberg when it came to these two.

While Fiona and Neville engaged in their usual flirtatious conversation, Hermione and Marilu headed over to the house tables. It was there that they had to separate, Hermione going to Gryffindor and Marilu to Hufflepuff. Hermione found Harry and Ron and sat down beside them.

"Neville's with Fiona," she whispered.

Harry laughed while Ron shook his head.

"Why aren't they together yet?" asked Ron. "Everybody knows that they like each other."

Hermione shrugged. "It's just a matter of time, I guess."

"Good thing the Sorting Hat put Fiona in Hufflepuff," said Harry. "We wouldn't want her and Neville in the same house. Could be trouble…"

Hermione punched his arm. "Harry! Show some shame!" she scolded.

"Attention, please!" said Professor McGonagall, cutting out the conversations vibrating through the room. She placed a familiar scrappy black hat on a little stool. And so the Sorting Ceremony began.

As Professor McGonagall went through the customary routine of calling up students in alphabetical order, Cheneya quickly walked by Hermione and handed her a note before hurrying back to Ravenclaw.

Hermione opened the note. It had only two words on it:

Library, tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 8

Luna Lovegood was walking through the hallway while reading an article in The Quibbler. It was a rather fascinating article about Nargle sightings, so she was too absorbed in her literature to notice her surroundings. This led her to walk right into someone.

"Oh, sorry," she said, dropping her beloved newspaper. "I didn't see you there." She extended a helping hand to the fallen person, who happened to be Cheneya."

"Hi, Luna," said Cheneya cheerily, apparently not minding her crash to the ground. "I was just heading over to the library to do some research. Fancy joining me?"

"Ooh, that sounds fun. What are we going to be researching?"

Cheneya lowered her voice. "Can ya keep a secret?"

"Is this more gossip about Lavender Brown's ex-boyfriend?"

"This is much, much more important."

"You know I won't tell anyone. Besides, nobody believes Loony Luna."

Cheneya scoffed. "I believe in you. Our friends believe in you. You've got friends, Luna, real friends."

Luna smiled at her very real friend. She and Cheneya had always been two of a kind when it came to being treated like an outcast: Luna believed everything that she read in the Quibbler, and Cheneya was the blood traitor daughter of blood traitor cousins. They had formed a bond over being mistreated, which had turned into friendship.

"Alright, let's go to the library and you can tell me this big important secret," said Luna.

* * *

When they got to the library, Luna saw that Hermione, Marilu, Ginny, and Fiona were already there.

"This is the super-secret study group," said Cheneya to Luna. She turned to the study group. "Luna's joining," she told them.

"Does she know about the prophesy?" asked Ginny.

"Not yet. But we're going to tell her now."

"So, the Order of the Phoenix found the Prophecy," Marilu began.

"And, long story short, here's a copy of everything it entails," said Fiona, handing Luna a piece of parchment. Fiona wasn't one for patience.

Luna read over the prophecy. "Neither can live while the other survives," she mused. "Sounds as if the Dark Lord has an alter ego."

"That's exactly what Harry's dad thought!" said Hermione.

"So, we're searching for a spell that can test for an alter ego," said Cheneya, taking a seat. Luna joined them.

"I found some books that could potentially help us," said Hermione, gesturing to a pile of books.

"Then let's study," said Luna.

* * *

About two hours into their study session, Fiona yelled, "I got it!", earning a reproachful look from Madam Pince. The others looked at her hopefully. She showed her book to them.

And there, lo and behold, was a potion titled "Alter Ego Revealer"

"A spell would've been easier, said Hermione.

"Don't complain," said Fiona. "It's what we've got."

"How are we going to source the materials, though?" asked Marilu.

"In my uncle's potion cabinet," said Fiona. "Who knows, he might have one readymade."

Hermione nodded slowly. "So we sneak into Snape's cabinet using Harry's invisibility cloak— "

"But we should ask first," said Fiona.

"What?"

"We should ask my Uncle Snape if we can borrow his stuff, and then we'll steal it if he says no," Fiona explained.

"Why would we ask?" asked Hermione incredulously.

Luna, picking up on Fiona's plan, answered, "Fiona is Professor Snape's sweet little niece, so how could he refuse her?"

Luna thought that, since Snape didn't have children of his own, Fiona was like his own daughter.

"All right," said Hermione, reluctantly.

This made Luna wonder if, despite all the fuss Hermione made about breaking rules, she still craved the shot of adrenaline that accompanied sneaking out at night.

"I'll ask Uncle Snape after Potions, which is in-" Fiona paused to look at the clock. "Five minutes! Yikes!"

Fiona and Luna and the other girls in the study group picked up their schoolbags and ran for the hills. Professor Snape did not like tardiness.

* * *

They collectively burst into the classroom. Snape gave them a look of irritation until he saw his niece among them. His expression then softened and he said nothing, but waved them off dismissively, indicating them to sit down.

All of the girls sat at a table together (and Fiona made sure that this table was as close to Neville as possible-it was out of the question for her to spend a Potions class without flirting some).

Class went by quickly enough, and after it ended, Fiona skipped over to her uncle, who was organizing potion ingredients. Luna stood close by, listening.

"Hi, Uncle Snape!" said Fiona.

Snape smiled fondly at her. "Hello, Fiona."

It was amazing, the effect that Fiona had on him. Every trace of the grumpy old teacher was gone. It was like he was a different person.

"Uncle Snape, I need your help." Fiona got straight to the point.

Snape studied her, concerned. "Is something amiss?"

"No, but I need to make Alter Ego Revealer, and I don't know where to source the ingredients. I was wondering if you had them in your cabinet."

Snape nodded. "I have all the ingredients. You can help yourself, especially since I'm slightly overstocked on them. I was going to throw them out, but now that you need them, I won't have to."

Fiona hugged her uncle. "Thanks, Uncle Snape!"

Fiona made her way to the cabinet to gather the ingredients, her uncle by her side.

"Will you need help? Alter Ego Revealer is awfully complicated to make," said Snape.

"I think I can do it. It looked pretty easy in the instructions, to tell you the truth," said Fiona.

"Atta girl!" said Snape, ruffling her hair. "That's the spirit of a bona fide potion maker."

Luna smiled to herself as she watched from a distance. She turned around and started walking to her next class. They had the materials. It would be easy for Fiona to make the potion.

But what would happen next?


	9. Chapter 9

Cheneya gave the simmering pot a stir. "There aren't enough bubbles," she said.

"We need more gillyweed," said Fiona.

"Hey, Neville," she called. "You got any more gillyweed?"

Neville walked over, holding a sprig of gillyweed. "The gillyweed you were using wasn't oxidizing properly. This should work."

Cheneya took the gillyweed and dropped it in the potion. As promised, the concoction started bubbling.

"You're so _smart,_ Neville," said Fiona, impressed.

Neville turned scarlet and smiled to himself at Fiona's compliment. "Thanks," he said quietly.

Cheneya turned her back to them and covered her mouth, suppressing laughter. Watching Fiona and Neville was hilarious to her.

"Why are you making Alter-Ego Revealer anyway?" asked Neville.

Fiona looked at Cheneya pleadingly. "Can I tell him?"

Cheneya sighed. "All right. But he's the last person we tell. Otherwise, the whole school will end up finding out, and goodness knows what happens then."

"I won't tell anyone…" said Neville.

Fiona grabbed him by the arm and whispered to him everything she knew. Meanwhile, Cheneya busied herself with the task at hand, making the potion.

She added a spoonful of ladybug secretion. The potion turned scarlet. "Uh, Fiona…"

Neville stared at the broth. "I'm no potions expert, but I don't think that's supposed to happen," he said worriedly.

Fiona walked over to take a peek. She flinched at the sight. "What happened?"

Without waiting for a response, she grabbed a stick of butter and dropped it in. The potion returned to its normal color.

"It turns red if there's too much acidity. The butter neutralizes it," Fiona explained.

Neville stared at his crush in awe.

"I added ladybug secretion," said Cheneya. "It said in the recipe to do that,"

Fiona took a quill and crossed out that part of the recipe. "Ladybug secretion is fickle and unnecessary," she told them. "The potion works just fine without it, and if you add one milliliter too much, the whole potion goes awry."

"So the potion is ready now?" asked Neville.

Fiona nodded. "Now we just have to use it."


	10. Chapter 10

Marilu stood in front of a mirror, brushing her glossy black hair.

There was a rapping at the window.

Marilu looked and saw her sister there, hovering outside on a broomstick.

Marilu opened the window and let Cheneya in. Cheneya set her Comet 360 on an empty shelf. "I forgot the password to Hufflepuff."

"The password is Jabberwocky," said Marilu.

Cheneya nodded slowly, making a mental note of that. "All right," she said. "Now, when are we going to fight Voldemort?"

"Chill, Cheneya!" said Marilu. "It's almost Christmas break. Take a rest."

"But we at least have a plan, right?" Cheneya insisted.

Marilu turned to face Cheneya. "Sure, sis. We get a copy of the map The Order uses to break into Voldy's lair. We sneak in and find some God-ordained miracle to force feed the Dark Lord Alter Ego Revealer without getting one of us killed. Then we find another God-ordained miracle to get everyone out of that hell hole alive after we've completed our task."

So what we need are a few God-ordained miracles. I'll just pray for half an hour every night," said Cheneya.

"Sure. Except you already do that."

"Fine. I'll increase the time to a full hour."

"Merlin, Cheneya, that's not how Christianity works.

Cheneya laughed. "I know, I'm just teasing."

* * *

At lunchtime, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Cheneya, Marilu, Fiona, Neville, and Ginny all sat at Ravenclaw, even though they were from different houses. This was because they needed to discuss their plans for Christmas.

"Will we be meeting over break?" asked Harry.

"You know we always do. I don't know why you're so anxious, Harry," said Hermione.

"But we have to meet often so that we can talk about our plans to find You-Know-Who," said Ron.

"Well, in the words of my dear sister," said Cheneya, "it's almost Christmas. We should take a break."

Ron scowled. Marilu laughed.

"Well, can we at least talk about it now?" Ron pleaded.

"All right," said Marilu, "but when Christmas break comes, I don't want to hear one word about it."

"So? How are we going to deliver the potion?" asked Harry eagerly.

"Quiet, Harry!" said Hermione. "Do you want the whole school to hear?"

"We're going to force feed it to old Voldy," said Cheneya. "There isn't another way."

"How are we going to get out of that alive?" asked Ginny nervously.

"We'll pray," said Marilu, "and God will save us."

"We pray?" asked Ron incredulously. "That's all? How's that going to save us?"

Luna propped up her arm on the table and rested her chin on it thoughtfully.

"God helps those who help themselves," she quoted. "While I agree that we should pray for the help that only God can give us, we can't afford to be lazy. We should train ourselves in dueling so that at least we stand a chance."

"Don't talk about dueling in front of Fiona," Hermione groaned.

But it was too late. Fiona threw her head back and laughed maniacally. She pulled out her wand. "Ron Weasly, I challenge you to a duel!" she yelled.

Ron looked around to see if there was a teacher nearby. There wasn't. He then pulled out his wand.

"Aw, the sweet little Hufflepuff got her claws out," Harry whispered to Ron.

Unfortunately for him, Fiona heard that.

"Sweet little Hufflepuff's gonna break your face!" she shouted. "I challenge both of you to a duel!"

Students around them were starting to stare. Although Harry knew that there was no way this could end well, he wasn't going to let people question his Gryffindor traits.

Fiona hastily bowed, then jumped right into the duel. "Stupefy!" she yelled. Harry jumped out of the way. The spell harmlessly hit an empty chair.

Ron sent a stunner back at Fiona. "Protego," Fiona said, and the curse rebounded on Ron. Ron ducked as it went flying over his head.

"Rictusempra!" Fiona aimed at Harry, and this time she got him. He simply didn't have time to get out of the way.

As Harry doubled over wheezing, Fiona turned her attention to Ron, who had been sending feeble stunners that always missed the target.

"Aguamenti."

Ron was caught unawares, like Harry, by an unexpected spell. He was drenched with water.

Fiona disarmed him while he was in shock. "Expelliarmus!"

Ron's wand flew into her waiting hand.

"Oh, yeah! I won!" she chanted, declaring her victory.

Onlookers stared in surprise, but Marilu just smiled. She knew the secret to Fiona's talent: she and Fiona practiced dueling every afternoon after classes.

"Marilu!" Fiona called. "Get over here, please. I need a more challenging opponent."

Marilu happily obliged. This time, before dueling, Fiona bowed deeply. Marilu did the same.

And then the dueling began.

Marilu and Fiona had barely exchanged a few spells when Professor McGonagall walked in.

"What in the name of Merlin's beard is happening here?" the professor exclaimed.

Fiona and Marilu exchanged a glance. There was no way out of this one.

"We were dueling," said Marilu.

"Yes, I can tell. What possessed the two of you to start dueling in the middle of a lunchroom?"

"We were…studying for a test," said Fiona.

Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows.

"We have a test today in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Fiona continued, "and we thought we'd remember the spells better if we practiced them."

Marilu smiled because it was true. They did have a test in Defense Against the Dark Arts that day.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "I'll let you off the hook this time because you were studying. But for heaven's sake, don't duel in the lunchroom again!"

Fiona and Marilu nodded obediently and sat back down to eat lunch. Everyone returned to their business and forgot about the duel.

"I never thought I'd see you lie to a teacher," Neville whispered to Fiona.

"I didn't!" Fiona whispered back. "We actually have a test today."

Neville groaned. "Oh, no. I forgot to study."

"I'll study with you after lunch," Fiona offered. "I believe we have time."

"Really? You'd help me study?" Neville said gratefully.

Fiona patted his hand. "Of course!"

Harry snickered until he saw Marilu give him a look of warning. Then he suddenly became very interested in his treacle tart and pretended not to notice Neville and Fiona.

* * *

After lunch, the group of friends were walking to the library so that Fiona could study with Neville and everyone else could talk in hushed voices about their plans to find Voldemort's possible alter ego.

On the way, they came across Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle.

Draco stuck his foot out and tripped Neville.

"Watch where you're going, you dumb oaf," said Draco, snidely as Neville fell on his face.

"If you mistreat Neville one more time, I'll knock your teeth out! I will do it!" said Fiona, raising her fist.

"Go ahead and stick up for the idiot. He doesn't have the brains to do it himself," said Draco.

"Everyone knows that Neville is ten times smarter than you," said Fiona.

Draco's face turned pale with rage. When Fiona's back was turned to him, Draco shot a stinging hex at her. Fiona screamed in pain and fell to the floor.

Marilu took out her want to defend her pal, but Neville beat her to it.

"You coward!" Neville shouted.

He raised his wand and hexed Draco so that Draco's face contorted in pain. Marilu, Cheneya, and all their friends watched aghast. They had never seen Neville this angry.

Neville was sending hex after hex, muttering the incantations under his breath. Beads of perspiration were forming on his brow.

When it seemed that Draco could take no more, Neville whispered, "Tangratella," to finalize things.

As Draco's legs started jerking out of control, Neville approached him to say, "Never hurt Fiona again."

Draco laughed. "I would hurt her again in a heartbeat. You and her both. Blood-traitors like the lot of you deserve a good lesson."

He raised his wand to hex her a second time.

Marilu quickly extended her wand. She silently shot a spell that blasted Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle backwards so that they hit a wall.

The trio went unconscious from the impact.

Hermione gave Marilu a look of admiration. "How did you learn to do that? Doing magic without saying the incantation out loud?"

"That's an ability that takes great talent," said Luna. "Only skilled witches and wizards can do it."

Marilu smiled, "Cheneya can do it too. We learned from our mom."

Marilu turned to help Fiona to her feet. "You ok?" she whispered.

Fiona nodded. "It hurts, but I'll be okay."

Fiona turned her attention to Neville. "Nev…thank you so much for sticking up for me."

Neville smiled. "Hey, what are friends for?"

"That duel, though!" said Cheneya, "What was that? I had no idea they taught that many hexes in school!"

"They don't," said Neville, "I didn't really know what I was doing. The spells were just coming to me."

"A witch or wizard can perform magic they never dreamed of when they, or someone they care deeply about, is put in danger," Luna intoned.

"Well, that explains it," said Neville.

"That wasn't really even a duel, come to think of it," said Ginny. "It was just Neville hexing Draco."

"Whatever it was that Neville was doing, Neville sure taught that son-of-a- basilisk a good lesson," said Cheneya happily.

"I don't think Neville learned his lesson," said Harry. "Did you hear what he said to Neville? He'd do it again in a heartbeat!"

Then they reached the library and went inside.

* * *

Professor Snape gave Neville a menacing stare. "Neville Longbottom," he said.

Neville shrunk back. "Yes, sir?"

"Draco has informed me that he was hexed by you in the hallway. Tell me, Neville, do you know the consequences of this kind of behavior?"

Neville straightened up. "I wouldn't have done it, sir, but Draco hexed Fiona."

Snape looked a bit taken aback by this new information. "Really? It appears that Draco forgot to mention that," he said, now glaring at Draco.

"It's true," said Fiona. "Draco really hurt me. Neville defended me. If anyone should be punished, it's Draco."

"50 points from Slytherine and detention for you, Draco. I expected better from you," said Snape.

Draco scowled at Neville.

While the potions class got back to business, Snape took Fiona aside and asked her what the hex was that Draco used on her. Fiona told him, and he gave her a potion to apply to the injured area. He instructed her to go to the hospital wing if it was still hurting by tomorrow. Fiona nodded and put the potion in her pocket.

Fiona then set to work preparing the potion they were making that day.

"Looks like Draco's in the hot seat," Cheneya whispered to Marilu and Fiona.

"He should've thought about the consequences before attacking Snape's niece," Marilu muttered.

"And then he went and told _my uncle_ about it! What did he expect?" said Fiona.

The trio started laughing. Snape smiled at them instead of telling them off, to Draco's great irritation.

* * *

After potions was Divination for Marilu. She sat with Cheneya, Fiona, and Luna. Professor Trelawny was again making them gaze into crystal balls.

Fiona was scrutinizing hers, trying to glimpse the future and get a decent grade.

Luna had blatantly refused her crystal ball, pushing it aside. "The only way you can see the future is when God himself reveals it. And God only rarely reveals the future. When He does so, it is only for one reason: it's future that was written so as to be altered," she'd said.

Cheneya and Marilu had also refused to crystal gaze.

Cheneya sat cross-legged on her chair, completely focused on something beyond the present.

Marilu was explaining to Luna their method of seeing the future. "Our Auntie Andromeda taught us," she said.

After about 15 minutes of fruitless effort, Fiona sighed and pushed away the crystal ball as well. "Alright, Cheneya. Show me what you've got."

Cheneya snapped out of her trance and turned to Fiona. "You want me to teach you how I see the future?"

Fiona nodded eagerly, so Cheneya began.

"The first thing you need to know is that future telling is not what people think it is. You see, human beings have free will. I know you've heard this before, but do you know what it means? It means that our future actions are not set in stone."

Fiona quirked an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"It means that, most of the time, our future doesn't even exist. It's like a building under construction. We shape it with our choices."

Fiona threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "Then why do we have Divination in the first place?"

"Because some things," said Cheneya, "are fated."

A look of understanding came across Fiona. "So, you can see what's fated. How do you do that?"

"Well, first you close your eyes. Focus completely on finding what's destined," said Cheneya. "That's all you have to do, but it's harder than it sounds."

Fiona closed her eyes. Marilu could see her struggle to slip free of the present and see the future.

Suddenly, Fiona's body gave a jolt. That's when Marilu knew she had succeeded. Seeing the future tended to be a shock for first timers.

"You're a quick learner," said Cheneya.

Fiona's eyes snapped open. "That was weird. I thought I'd see some kind of vision, but instead…"

"It was like a random piece of information just entered your head," Marilu completed.

Fiona nodded. "Exactly."

"So what did you see?" asked Cheneya.

Fiona blushed. "Well, it had to do with Neville…"

"Soulmates are a type of fate, you know," Marilu teased.

Fiona shoved her and Marilu giggled.

"I'm dead serious, though. It's true."

"So what was this Neville-related thing that you saw?" asked Cheneya, anxious to know.

Fiona shrugged. "I couldn't really tell. I just know that it had to do with me and Neville, and it was good."

"I already know what it is," said Cheneya. "I've seen it before in my future telling sessions."

"So tell me!" said Fiona.

"I don't think so," said Cheneya.

"Tell me!"

"Why would I do that?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

This banter went on for quite a while until Marilu got sick of it.

"Fiona, she won't tell you because she doesn't know," said Marilu. "We've both come across this mysterious 'good thing' that's supposed to happen between you and Neville, and we can't decipher it. We're now meant to know exactly what it is."

Fiona gave Cheneya a look. "Why didn't ya say so?"

"I'm just messing with you," said Cheneya, making Fiona smile.

Across the room, Professor Trelawny approached Harry to look inside his crystal ball.

She sighed in such a melancholy way that the entire class stopped talking and turned to look at her.

"Oh, Harry. You poor thing," the professor said sadly.

Marilu observed Harry visibly fight the strain to roll his eyes.

Realizing that the class wanted more, Professor Trelawny continued, "I see you dying a tragic death, at the hand of your greatest enemy. It will happen soon, when you least expect it."

"Is that so, Professor?" asked Cheneya. "Because that's not what I see."

Professor Trelawny looked shocked. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil glared at Cheneya. Cheneya, in turn, payed them no attention.

"You want to know what I see, Harry?"

Harry nodded. Cheneya and him were good friends. Marilu knew Harry trusted her sister.

Cheneya crossed the room and, taking his hands in hers, closed her eyes and began. This was how to read a particular person's future.

"Interesting," she said thoughtfully. The whole class watched, breathless.

"I see a girl," she said simply. "She is your other half, the one that completes you. With her at your side, you will be very happy."

Cheneya paused.

"But I see trials ahead. You and her may not be willing to face them together," she finished.

"I knew his fate would be tragic!" Professor Trelawny announced dramatically.

"Not necessarily," said Cheneya. "Luna, tell them what you said at the beginning of class."

Luna stood up. "The only way you can see the future is when God himself reveals it. And God only rarely reveals the future. When He does so, it is only for one reason: it's future that was written so as to be altered," she repeated.

Cheneya patted Harry's shoulder. "Don't worry about the written future I foresaw. You can change it."

"Class is dismissed!" Professor Trelawny bellowed. Anyone could tell she tired of hearing this conversation.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **I 'borrowed' Luna's quote from The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho:** _"The only way you can see the future is when God himself reveals it. And God only rarely reveals the future. When He does so, it is only for one reason: it's future that was written so as to be altered."_

 **Also, about Harry's new soulmate, any suggestions as to who it should be? Please vote in the comments! I plan to make it either Ginny, Hermione, Luna, or Cheneya, but I'll accept other ideas.**


	11. Chapter 11

Fiona ran around the room, a pure bundle of energy.

"It's Christmas break!" she yelled exuberantly.

Marilu was neatly folding clothes and packing them in her trunk. In contrast, Fiona was grabbing random items that belonged to her and chucking them in her own trunk.

"Just think," said Fiona, "a whole three weeks off school and I can spend it all at your house."

"We can hang out all day," said Marilu excitedly.

"And have snowball fights!"

"And eat candy!"

"And I'll get to sleep until noon!" Fiona squealed. "You know how much I love to sleep."

"Did I mention that Neville's going to be there?" asked Marilu.

Fiona froze. "What?"

"Neville's staying with us. Remember how the Dark Lord burned his house down?"

"They didn't get a new one yet?"

Marilu smiled innocently. "No."

Fiona squealed. She danced around the Hufflepuff dormitory. Marilu threw a pillow at her, and before they knew it, they were having a full-blown pillow fight. Soon, the room was covered in feathers and there were at least five pillows much in need of repair.

"Guys, it's time to go!" Cheneya yelled, busting into the room. Then her eyes got big. "Whoa, what happened?"

"Pillow fight," Marilu explained.

"Well, you'll be able to continue the pillow fight at our house. Let's go!"

Cheneya ran out of the room in a hurry. Marilu and Fiona exchanged a look, then jumped into action. This time, Marilu didn't bother to fold her clothes or work neatly. She worked as Fiona did, throwing random things into her trunk. Then she surveyed the room, still messy from their pillow fight. She took out her wand to fix the mangled pillows.

While Marilu worked to clean up the mess they'd made, Fiona was putting the last few items in her trunk. A black and yellow striped scarf, a set of quills, five bottles of ink, a book of dueling spells, purple socks, a book of advanced potions…and she was done. Satisfied, she shut her trunk just as Marilu repaired the last pillow.

"Well, that was good timing," said Marilu.

As they dragged their trunks out of the room, Fiona got a nagging feeling that she was forgetting something. And then she remembered.

"My Chudley Cannon slippers!" she yelled, sprinting back into the room.

She found her prized possessions under a bed: obnoxiously fluffy slippers with the Chudley Cannon symbol engraved on them.

"Good thing you remembered them," said Marilu. "I love those slippers."

"I have converted you to the Chudley Cannon cause."

"And then I converted my whole family."

"And now we can all watch the game and cheer the same team!"

"And cry when they lose!"

They grabbed their trunks and pushed them down the stairs. Then they slid down the banisters, landing in a pile at the bottom of the stairs. Cheneya chose this moment to walk down the stairs, catch her foot on the carpeting, and land on top of them. This caused a great deal of confusion.

"Hey! Get off me!"

"Let go of my foot!"

"You're pulling my hair! Stop it!"

Eventually, they managed to untangle themselves and get up. Laughing like crazy people, they grabbed their trunks and hauled them out of the school. Once they stepped out of the gate, Fiona was met with the sight of her second set of parents: Sirius and Bellatrix. Fiona reflected that they were better parents than her biological ones, but she quickly pushed the melancholy thought out of her head and ran to greet her friends' parents.

Sirius saw them right away and started charging them (it's a very scary sight, seeing your friends' dad charge you, but Fiona had gotten used to it). He scooped up the three girls into his arms and twirled them around. When he set them down, he kissed Cheneya and Marilu on the top of the head. Then he turned to Fiona and instigated their legendary handshake. Suffice to say that this handshake involved fist bumping, arm flapping, hugging, and a complex mix of hand gestures.

Bellatrix, who until then hadn't noticed their arrival (she'd been talking to Luna, who was also staying for Christmas at the Black's house) came over to hug the trio.

"I've missed you so much," she said to her daughters. "The house is so empty without you."

"And you!" she said to Fiona. "You've grown so much since I saw you last."

As Bellatrix played with Fiona's hair and talked to her daughters, Sirius revved up his flying motorbike. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying with Marauder Airlines. Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff."

While Sirius and Bellatrix took their seats on the motorbike, the girls clambered into the side seat. Fiona sat on Marilu, who sat on Luna, who sat on Cheneya. Cheneya was the strongest, so she bore the weight of them all.

The motorbike lifted into the air and was soon soaring above the clouds. Fiona felt slightly giddy as she gazed out at the city miles below them. She reached out to touch a cloud and gasped when she felt drops of condensation form on her hand, a childish gesture that made Sirius laugh.

"I've flown on Dad's motorbike a million times, and I never get used to it," Marilu whispered in awe.

Cheneya shifted so that she could see the view over the three girls sitting on top of her. "Whoa," she said, poking her head out of the side seat.

Luna stared intently at the clouds. "That one looks like a Blibbering Humdinger," she said, pointing.

The girls talked about all sorts of things during their flight. They talked about Crumple Horned Snorkacks, Quidditch teams, and plans to skip Divination and go to Hogsmeade instead. They were still debating whether skipping class was acceptable when the motorbike descended from the sky and landed in front of the Black manor.

Fiona smiled. She was finally home.

* * *

Fiona and Marilu worked together to pry a mattress out of a bed. The four girls were making a fortress out of mattresses, blankets, and pillows. This was Cheneya's idea, and because they were crazy teenage girls, they thought this was a great proposal.

Luna came into the bedroom with an armful of pillows and threw them onto the mattress that Fiona and Marilu had obtained.

Luna clapped her hands. "Isn't this fun?"

Cheneya threw another blanket on their fortress as she answered, "Yes! I love this!"

Then she grabbed Luna by the arm and they started to dance a jig.

Fiona smiled, then remembered that she and Marilu had unfinished business to take care of.

"Hey, Marilu," she said, picking up a pillow. "We have a pillow fight to continue."

Marilu grabbed a pillow of her own. "Why yes, Fiona, I believe we do."

So, as Cheneya and Luna danced around the room, Marilu and Fiona threw pillows at each other. Their shrieks of laughter must have captured Bellatrix's attention, because she soon came up to check on them.

Cheneya and Luna had linked arms and were running in circles, and Fiona and Marilu were still bashing each other with pillows, when Bellatrix opened the door.

The four friends froze as her expression turned to shock. "What on earth happened in here?"

"We were making a fortress to sleep in. My idea," said Cheneya.

"Why do you need a fortress to sleep in? We have beds!"

"There were only two beds in here, and there are four of us," Marilu explained.

"We have guest bedrooms. Have you ever heard of those?"

"I get scared when I sleep by myself," said Fiona pleadingly.

"And we need to protect each other from Nargles," Luna protested. "Nargles like to attack at night."

Bellatrix sighed. "Alright, you gang of troublemakers. Sleep in the fortress. But remember: you have to clean it up before you go back to school."

"Yes, Mom," said Cheneya obediently.

As soon as Bellatrix left, the quartet exchanged a look and giggled. Fiona felt a smile of sheer joy creep up on her face. This Christmas would be so much fun. This was the first Christmas she was spending with her friends, and they got to sleep in a pillow fortress.

"I'm hungry," Cheneya declared, interrupting Fiona's thoughts.

Then Fiona realized that she was hungry too. "Yeah! Let's go eat!"

"Maybe Mom can fix us some treacle tart," said Marilu. "Let's go downstairs."

They raced down the stairs, on a mission to put an end to their hunger. And that was the beginning of Christmas.


	12. Chapter 12

Ginny was brushing her hair, preparing for her day at the Black Manor, when she saw Luna hovering outside her window. Literally. No broom, no means of flight. She was just suspended in the air, bobbing up and down.

Ginny ran to open her window. "Luna Lovegood! What on earth are you doing?"

Luna climbed inside Ginny's room. "I was getting bored, so Sirius said I could fly over to your house and escort you and Ron to the manor on his motorbike."

"He let you fly his motorbike? By yourself?" asked Ginny, flabbergasted.

"Yeah. He's so cool, isn't he?"

"Sure, but that doesn't explain why you were hovering outside my window."

"Oh. Well, I wanted to practice my levitation charm."

"Luna, you could get expelled for that!"

"I figured that if I was close enough to your house, nobody could tell who cast the spell."

"Fair enough," said Ginny, smiling. Luna was full of surprises and ideas that, strange as they were, always seemed to work.

"I wish that you could stay with us," said Luna. "It would have been a lot of fun."

"I do too, but Mom wouldn't let me or Ron spend Christmas away. We will get to see each other every day, though. I suppose that makes up for the fact that I won't be sleeping over there," said Ginny.

"I understand your mother's reasoning," said Luna. "It would be hard to spend Christmas without your children. I only got to come because Daddy was going on a business trip to look for Crumple Horned Snorkacks, and it would be too dangerous to take me, so it made things easier if I stayed with friends."

"What about Fiona?" asked Ginny.

Luna's brow darkened. "You know how her parents are."

Ginny felt her face get pale. She'd forgotten about Fiona's situation.

"Her mom is traveling, and her dad is simply being himself," Luna continued.

There was a pause. The touchy conversation subject was taking its toll. Ginny shifted uncomfortably.

Luna shook her head, as if trying to shake away the sad thoughts. "So, are you ready?"

Ginny nodded in affirmation. "Yeah. Let's go get Ron."

The two girls exited the room together.

* * *

They found Ron seated at the kitchen table, munching on a piece of toast.

"Ron, are you ready to go to the Black's house? Luna's come to collect us," said Ginny.

Ron turned around to face them. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Mom, Luna's come to take me and Ron to Cheneya and Marilu's place. Is it alright with you if we leave now?" asked Ginny.

Mrs. Weasly came out of the kitchen. "It's all right with me. Are you traveling by floo powder?"

"Actually, we're using Sirius's motorbike," said Luna. "That's how I got here."

Mrs. Weasly raised an eyebrow, as if inclined to disagree with this method of travel. But then she shook her head and said, "Ok. If you're careful while flying on that…vehicle…you may leave now."

* * *

Luna, Ginny, and Ron ran outside where the motorbike was.

"Can I sit with you in the drivers' seat, Luna?" asked Ginny.

"I want to sit in the drivers' seat," Ron argued.

"Too bad, so sad," said Luna. "I choose Ginny as my copilot. You can sit in the side seat."

Ron grumbled as he took his place in the side seat. Luna sat in the drivers' spot, and Ginny sat behind her. They had barely accommodated themselves when Luna slammed her foot on the gas pedal. They shot into the sky at a dizzying pace until they were level with the clouds. As they careened through the air, Ginny whooped and laughed from the sheer exhilaration of it, which only encouraged Luna to go faster. Meanwhile, Ron was turning green.

"Can you slow down? I'm getting airsick here," he shouted.

Luna slowed down a little bit, but they were still going quite fast. They reached the Black manor within two minutes.

Ron stumbled out of the side seat. "I think we broke the sound barrier."

Cheneya ran out of the house. "There you are! That was fast."

Marilu followed behind her. "Did you break the speed limit?" she joked.

Ginny felt a surge of happiness in seeing her friends. She ran forward and embraced Luna, Cheneya, and Marilu.

"Where's Fifi?" she asked when they pulled apart.

"She's in the garden with Neville," said Marilu.

The girls dissolved into giggles, and they even got a chuckle out of Ron.

"Ok, that's all good and well, but where's Harry?" asked Ron.

Ginny blushed. "Harry's staying over, too?"

Cheneya nodded. "You know, his parents are in the Order, so they brought Harry along to spend the day here."

"They basically lived here during the summer," said Marilu. "because they were in hiding from Voldemort and our house is very secure, as you know."

Ginny nodded. "Is he still living here?"

"No. Voldemort seems to have gone back into hiding, so they're living in their own house again."

"Ok. Where's Hermione?" asked Ginny, suddenly changing the topic.

"She'll be here soon," said Marilu. "Let's go inside?"

"Yeah!"

And so they did.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello! Long time no see! I promise I'll update more often, to those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the next chapter (you know who you are...). In the meantime, I introduce to you chapter 13, loaded with cheesy Neville/Fiona stuff:**

* * *

Neville stared at the withered little plant. It was pretty far gone, but it could still be saved. He held the stem between his thumb and forefinger, and concentrated on one thought: the plant's recovery. Slowly but surely, a flush of green color began to spread across the plant and its stem began to straighten out. In a matter of seconds, the plant was restored to full health.

"How do you do that?"

Neville spun around and was met with the sight of Fiona, a sight he was always glad to see. He smiled.

"It's easy," he said. "I hold the stem and only think of healing the plant. It's one of the basics in the magical branch of plant healing."

"That's so cool," said Fiona.

Neville grinned. He felt proud to have done something that impressed his crush.

"Can I help you with the garden?" asked Fiona.

He nodded. "Sure."

He scanned the garden, looking for plants that needed help. His eyes came to rest on a Bubotuber whose stem was bent.

"That plant," he said, pointing to it, "is in dire need of help. And it requires two people to do the job."

"That's because it's in stage 2 of Internode Asphyxiation," said Fiona quickly. "It requires a fortification double bond, which is one of the only healing spells that can't be done with a wand, and two people need to be casting it for it to work."

Neville raised his eyebrows, surprised. "You've been studying."

Fiona smiled. "Yeah. Mr. and Mrs. Black own a lot of gardening books."

Neville couldn't help but wonder if she had been studying herbology precisely because she knew it was something he loved. That prospect sent a pleasant shiver down his spine.

Trying to refocus on the task, Neville asked her, "Do you know how to cast a fortification double bond?"

Fiona nodded. "Let's do this thing!"

They knelt on either side of the Bubotuber and linked pinky fingers. Neville focused on the plant's well-being, and he could see Fiona was doing the same. The crooked little stem put up a good fight, but eventually it succumbed and became straight.

Even after the Bubotuber was healed, Neville didn't want let go of Fiona. He figured that he'd move away when she did, but, to his surprise, Fiona didn't move at all. So, they just stayed still, staring at each other. Fiona's lips curled into a smile, and Neville felt himself smiling too.

They stayed like that for about two minutes, until there was a sudden shriek of laughter in the distance. It was Cheneya and Marilu.

Neville and Fiona simultaneously pulled away, afraid that the sisters were laughing about them.

However, Cheneya and Marilu hadn't even seen them. They were holding onto a sizable, leather bound book and giggling.

"What are you guys up to?" Fiona said teasingly.

Cheneya held up the book for them to see. The title was _Unlocking your Animagus Form._

"We're trying to become animagi," said Marilu. "but we have to do it in secret. Mom and Dad might prevent us."

"It's really dangerous," said Cheneya excitedly. "I love it!"

"Hey," said Fiona, pouting. "I wanna be an animagus, too."

"And you will be," said a distant voice. It was Luna. Ginny followed close behind.

"Cheneya and Marilu are our test subjects," said Ginny. "If something goes horribly wrong, we just won't do what they did."

"Ginny! There you are!" said Fiona. "I've been waiting for you for, like, the whole day."

"It's only morning," said Ginny airily. Then a mischievous look came over her as she looked between Neville and Fiona. "Besides, you were busy with— "

Luna kicked her in the shins.

"The garden!" Ginny yelped. "You were busy with the garden, tending to it like a good little girl!"

Luna, Ginny, and Fiona exchanged silent snickers. Neville was puzzled. He had no idea what their strange innuendos were about.

That's when the rest of their group came running to them: Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"What's going on?" asked Harry. "I heard that Cheneya and Marilu were doing something dangerous. What is it?"

Cheneya was standing on a bench, eyes closed. Marilu whisper an incantation. Cheneya began to levitate a few inches off the bench.

"You're a bird," Marilu exclaimed.

Cheneya's eyes snapped open. "I am?"

Marilu held up the book. "Levitation is a sign of a bird animagus form," she read.

"Whoa," said Cheneya. "Let's try it with you."

So they did. Sure enough, she started levitating, too.

The sisters squealed. "We're birds!"

Before anyone could react to this news, however, they heard Lily call them. "Kids, it's time for lunch."

The friends exchanged a glance.

"Last one to the door is a rotten egg!" Fiona shouted, taking off.

Everyone else followed, laughing and tripping over each other to get ahead.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **And so I conclude another chapter. By the way, it's not too late to vote on who Harry's soulmate should be. Please cast your vote in the review section if you haven't yet...I want everybody's input. See you in the next chapter! Have a nice day.**


	14. Chapter 14

Bellatrix watched the children burst through the door, clamoring to get inside the house.

"I won!" yelled Fiona. "I got here first! I beat all of you! I'm the ultimate champion! I'm the-"

"We get it, you won," said Ginny, cutting her off.

Fiona giggled. "I like winning."

Lily walked out of the kitchen holding a plate of spaghetti. "Lunch is served," she said.

After Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Cheneya, Marilu, Fiona, Luna, and Neville had all taken their seats at the dining table, there were only two vacant chairs remaining. Bellatrix and Lily exchanged a glance. They had the entire Order of the Phoenix staying for lunch as well.

"Let's go get another table," Bellatrix said to her friend. "I'm sure we have a spare in the attic."

The women left the room. Then they had to climb five flights of stairs before reaching the attic.

"Don't you have an elevator in this house?" asked Lily, panting.

"Unfortunately, that's a Muggle invention that wizards failed to adopt," said Bellatrix.

They stopped to rest for a few seconds when came a voice behind them that said, "Mobilicorpus!"

Bellatrix felt herself being hoisted into the air by an invisible force, and saw Lily levitating as well. She turned and saw Alice walking up the stairs behind them.

"You looked tired," she said, shrugging. "Anyway, where are you two going?"

"We were headed to the attic," said Lily, laughing.

Alice smiled and skipped up the remaining three flights of stairs, taking her friends with her.

"You've got quite the stamina, Alice," said Bellatrix.

Alice grinned proudly. "Thanks."

She lowered them to the floor once they reached the fifth story of the house. "So, why are we going to the attic?"

"We need another table," said Lily.

They entered the attic. They spotted the table quickly: it was easily the biggest item in the room. Lily tried to cast a levitation charm on it, but the table would not budge. Bellatrix sighed as she realized the reason behind this.

"When Regulus was younger, he used to practice magic by casting spells on furniture. He must have put a protection spell on this table that won't let us levitate it."

"Looks like we'll have to do it the good old fashioned way," said Alice as she reached forward and grasped the table.

Bellatrix and Lily followed suit and, together, they hoisted the table into the air with physical force. The women were about to take it out of the attic when two familiar figures appeared in the doorway: James and Sirius.

"Need some help?" asked James slyly.

Without waiting for a response, he lifted the table out of their hands and started out of the room all by himself.

"Hey! We were managing just fine on our own, you showoff," Lily teased.

Lily and Alice ran to try and reclaim the table. Bellatrix stayed behind with Sirius, who had wandered into the attic and was examining its contents.

"I remember cursing that table with Regulus," said Sirius. "We were trying to pull a prank on Mum. She never ended up finding out about it."

Bellatrix felt her eyes grow wide. "This was one of you and Reggie's pranks?"

Sirius nodded, smiling sadly. "Yeah. Over Christmas break, when I was in second year, he came up with the idea of cursing the spare table in the attic so that it couldn't levitate. We thought it would make our parents so mad…it probably would have, if they ever discovered it. Mother hated having to do things the Muggle way. She said it undermined the dignity of purebloods. Being forced to lift the table without a levitation charm would have been scandalous to her."

Bellatrix laughed softly. "You and Regulus sure knew how to irk the rest of the family."

"I know, that's what made us the unbeatable pranksters. At least before he-" Sirius sighed, "before he joined the Dark Side."

Bellatrix put her hand on her husband's shoulder. Regulus's turn to the Dark Side was a real sore spot for Sirius. Sirius shook his head, as if trying to dispel the sad thoughts. He moved farther into the attic, looking at other objects from the past. It was like travelling through time. Little mementos all over the place brought back old memories. The attic itself called back memories: Bellatrix and Sirius used to explore it in their youth. Bellatrix picked up a photograph of her and her sisters. They were at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, giggling as they shared a chocolate ice cream sundae. The girls were only five years old back then, but Bellatrix could remember that day with astonishing clarity. Their mother had taken them to Diagon Alley with the intent of buying some new dresses for an upcoming party. At first, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda were happy to get out of the house and see the city, but after an hour of shopping, they were exhausted. Their mother rewarded them by taking them to the famous ice cream shop, and the events that followed were portrayed in the photograph. Bellatrix smiled. They were so young and innocent back then.

"Remember this?" asked Sirius.

Bellatrix set the photograph down and turned her attention to Sirius. She gasped when she saw what he was showing her. It was a record player, and not just any record player. It was theirs. They had found it when exploring the attic once. It had come with a box of jazzy vinyl records, which Bellatrix loved. She and Sirius used to escape to the attic when they wanted to be alone together, and they would put on music and dance.

"We haven't used this in so long," Bellatrix said, brushing dust off the record player.

Sirius put a vinyl record in, and the peppy music burst into life.

"May I have this dance?" he asked, offering his hand to her.

"Oh my goodness, Sirius, it's like we're 16 again," she said, taking his hand.

She could have stayed there forever, letting him twirl her around in his arms, gazing right into his warm blue eyes.

"Um, hello?" asked Lily, poking her head through the doorway. "Are you coming down to lunch, or not?"

"We're coming," said Bellatrix, switching off the music reluctantly.

Sirius took her hand and together they followed Lily out of the room and down the stairs. As they passed the third floor, Bellatrix noticed something strange. There was a giant stack of books on how to become an animagi sitting in the entrance to Cheneya and Marilu's room. Bellatrix suddenly realized why her daughters had been spending so much time in the library. They were trying to unlock their animagus form. Any sensible mother would have taken away the books and lectured them on how dangerous it was, but Bellatrix felt proud of Cheneya and Marilu for taking the initiative to learn such a difficult kind of magic. She had unlocked her animagus form in her fourth year, prompting Sirius to unlock his in fifth year. Marilu and Cheneya were in third year, so they would be not only beating her record, but the youngest animagi the world has ever seen. Bellatrix smiled to herself as they walked down the last few steps. She wondered what kind of animal her daughters would be.


	15. Chapter 15

Sirius watched the Order file into the dining room and take their seats. The room was filled with happy chatter, as everyone was excited for the upcoming holiday. On one side of the table, James Potter was bragging about his son's quidditch skills to anyone who would listen. On the other, Mad Eye Moody was entertaining the teenagers (and thereby preventing chaos) by telling stories about his younger days as a member of the Order.

"Attention, please," said Dumbledore, tapping his glass with a knife.

The room fell silent.

"Without a doubt, every one of you has worked very hard this year. You have taken on the responsibility of the Order along with the demands of your daily routine. It is thanks to your hard work that we are able to fight off the Dark Lord and protect our people. You are all about to take a long, well deserved break. But first, I would like to say a few words about unity," he paused, "We need two things to be successful in this venture. Of course, we must be willing to work hard, but we must also be united. A house divided amongst itself cannot stand. If we all put forth tremendous effort, but are not united, all of our efforts are fruitless. That's why I tell you this now: being the headmaster of Hogwarts, I have seen all kinds of division between the students, the most prominent one being house rivalry. One house thinks it's better than another, or that they are the only house that matters at all. I must warn you now that this is the deadliest mindset one can have when working with others. Every single person brings something inimitable to the Order. Every single person is needed. When someone starts to think that they are better than the rest, they undermine the entire workforce that they are part of," he paused again to let those words sink in, "That is my warning to you. As we grow closer to defeating Voldemort, our unity becomes ever more important. That said, I have been a part of many ventures in my life, and I must say that I have never come across a group so united as the Order of the Phoenix. I have seen every Hogwarts house at work here: the bravery of Gryffindor, the intelligence of Ravenclaw, the loyalty of Hufflepuff, and the cleverness of Slytherine. The Order is the perfect example of what people can achieve when they work together."

The dining room burst into applause, moved with Dumbledore's words. Even the portraits on the walls started clapping, impressed with Dumbledore's wisdom.

"And let us not forget those of us who are too young to join the Order," said Dumbledore. "They are needed too. They remind us of what we are fighting for, what we are working to protect."

"Hear, hear!" yelled Cheneya, raising a glass of butterbeer. Everyone laughed, including Dumbledore.

Dumbledore raised his glass. "To unity!"

Everyone else followed suit. "To unity!" they repeated,

With that, everyone began to dig in to the food Kreacher had prepared. They hadn't gotten very far into the meal when something shocking happened. A cat patronus leapt into the room. Sirius heard Bellatrix gasp. They knew only two people with a cat patronus. One of them was Andromeda, but Andromeda was right there with them. Sirius watched the sisters exchanged a glance. If it wasn't Andromeda, then it had to be Andromeda's twin.

Sure enough, the cat began to speak with Narcissa's voice. "I just discovered something that might interest you, something critical. I can't risk saying it now, in case someone overhears, but I'll be apparating to your house shortly. I'll be there in five minutes."

The cat patronus raced out of the room again.

"Let's continue with lunch," said Andromeda. "She can join us if she wants."

People started talking again, some of them very excited. Narcissa was a spy for the Order. She was not a Death Eater herself, but her husband was in Voldemort's inner circle. Narcissa got information from him, then ran to tell the Order. Lucius Malfoy knew what his wife was doing, but made no attempt to stop her. For this reason, Dumbledore insisted that once they had stopped the dark side, Lucius should not be punished. As for Narcissa, everyone agreed that she was a hero. She may have put on the façade of a zealous follower of Voldemort, but her loyalties were with the Order, where her sisters were.

Andromeda got out of her chair and went over to Bellatrix. "Our sister works quickly," she remarked.

Bellatrix laughed. "Narcissa was always the most efficient of all of us."

The doorbell rang. "She's here!" said Marilu excitedly.

Sirius got up, along with his wife, and ran to get the door. Bellatrix was grinning widely, hardly containing her excitement. She threw open the door and there was Narcissa.

The sisters embraced. "I'm so glad to see you again," said Bellatrix.

"Likewise!" said Narcissa. "I've missed all of you so much!"

Andromeda came running down the hall. "Cissy!" she cried.

After the sisters were done welcoming Narcissa back home, they led her inside. Marilu and Cheneya were practically bouncing off the walls in anticipation.

"Aunt Cissa!" said Marilu and Cheneya in unison.

"Look at you two," said Narcissa. "You've already grown so much! And it's only been three months."

She opened her purse and took out some peppermint toads. "Make sure you save them for dessert," she said, winking.

Cheneya and Marilu giggled, pocketing the candies.

"Welcome back," said Dumbledore jovially, striding over to Narcissa. "We received your patronus."

"Yes," said Narcissa, growing serious. "Voldemort is planning a raid on Hogsmeade, on the day that students will be visiting next."

"How did he know when the students were coming?" asked Bellatrix, alarmed.

Tears welled up in Narcissa's eyes. "He tortured it out of Draco."

A collective gasp went around the room.

"My son, my brave little son, stood up for his classmates and got tortured for it," she cried. "That monster of a dark lord used the Cruciatus curse on him."

Bellatrix and Andromeda hugged their sister to comfort her. Harry and Ron exchanged looks of shock. Draco had submitted himself to torture by an Unforgivable curse to protect them all. For once, they had respect for Draco Malfoy.

"My condolences are sent to you, Narcissa," said Dumbledore solemnly. "Your son will be rewarded for his courage."

Narcissa wiped away her tears. "Thank you, sir, but never mind the reward right now. What are we going to do about the raid?"

"I will cancel the Hogsmeade visit for that day," said Dumbledore, "and we will have the half of the Order patrolling the school gates, and the other half will wait in Hogsmeade to fight off the attackers. I will alert the residents of Hogsmeade to stay indoors at the time of the raid."

"Should we bring this to the attention of Cornelius Fudge?" asked Molly Weasly.

"Fudge is a fool!" said Mad Eye Moody. "He will only serve to hinder our attempts of security."

"I don't like him either, but he should know about this. His job is to ensure the security of Britain's magic people," said Mrs. Weasly earnestly.

"I have to agree with Molly, here," said Dumbledore. "Remember what I said about unity, Alastor. We must work with the Ministry of Magic. They are on our side, and we need all the help we can get."

Mad Eye Moody nodded in understanding. Dumbledore started writing a letter to the ministry while everyone else started discussing battle strategy.

"I'll distract them, you disarm them," said Bellatrix to Sirius. They were always partners in battle. Each one made up for the other's flaws, so together, they were unstoppable. It was like destiny brought them together.

"We're going to beat the pants off them!" Andromeda told Narcissa. "Don't worry, Cissy, we'll avenge your son."


	16. Chapter 16

Narcissa pulled open the front door and entered her house. Her head was still pounding from everything that had happened that day. She clenched her fists angrily. Voldemort would pay very dearly for what he did to her son. The Order would make sure of it, and so would she.

She took off her coat as Lucius entered the room.

"Draco's upstairs, sleeping," he said. "The torture session left him very weak. I had to take him to St. Mungo's. They said that the excessive torture had weakened his immune system temporarily. A day or two of bed rest should restore his health."

"But he'll be alright?" asked Narcissa.

Lucius nodded. "He'll recover soon enough. Our son is a trooper."

Narcissa felt her eyes tear up again. She rarely cried, as it made her look weak, but seeing her precious little angel writhing on the ground in pain just shattered her completely. "Yes, he is," she said.

"I assume you've informed the Order of the raid?" asked Lucius.

Narcissa was surprised. They had never spoken about her spying for the Order. "I did," she said. "I went over to Grimmauld Place to tell them."

"Excellent," said Lucius.

Narcissa smiled. "Look, I'm going to go check on Draco. I'll be right back."

As she left the room, Lucius stared after her. Watching the Dark Lord torture his son had broken something in him. Previously, he had felt unsure where his loyalties were, but now he knew. He could no longer stand for someone so cruel. Lucius Malfoy knew what he had to do. He could not stay on the Dark Side any longer.

* * *

Narcissa ran into Dobby, the house elf, on the way up the stairs.

"Dobby, could you please fix me a cup of hot chocolate for Draco?"

Dobby nodded. "Yes, mistress. Dobby is happy to oblige."

Narcissa continued her way up the steps. Harry Potter had freed Dobby in his second year, but Dobby still worked for the family. The difference was that he was payed for his service, he was treated with courtesy, he had up to two months of vacation time, and he did not work on Sundays. In other words, he had basic worker's rights. Narcissa was okay with that. Dobby was a great help once he started receiving better treatment, so it was worth it.

Narcissa jogged up the last few steps and reached Draco's room at the end of the corridor. Draco was pale. He muttered something incomprehensible.

"Draco? Did you say something?" asked Narcissa cautiously.

"The girl," Draco whispered, his eyes still shut. "They're trying to kill her."

 _He's having a nightmare,_ Narcissa thought.

"Who is this girl?" she asked.

"The one with the blue hair. She isn't safe where she is," Draco muttered. It seemed that he was half asleep, with half of his mind in the dream world, and the other half acknowledging his mother.

"No! Don't let them take you!" he screamed suddenly.

"Draco! Wake up!" said Narcissa, frightened. She took him by the shoulder and shook him.

Draco's eyes opened. "Mom?"

"Draco, you were talking in your sleep. Screaming, more like."

Draco shook his head dismissively. "I was just having a nightmare. I'm fine."

Narcissa stroked her son's hair. "Are you sure?"

Draco nodded.

Narcissa sighed. "Draco, about the torture, I'm so sorry that I couldn't stop him-"

"Mom, it's alright," Draco interrupted. "I knew what I was getting myself into. I only wish I didn't cave in to the pain and reveal when the Hogsmeade time was. Now everyone is done for."

"Don't be so sure," said Narcissa mysteriously. She knew she couldn't give her son the information, as Draco was easy prey for Voldemort, but she could at the very least offer him the peace of mind that everything would be alright.

Draco didn't press the matter, accepting the news with a solemn smile.

"Now then, I think it's best that you get some more sleep," said Narcissa. "After all, you want to be in tip top shape for Christmas, don't you?"

"That's more than a week from now," said Draco, but he closed his eyes anyway.

"Sweet dreams," said Narcissa. Then, as Draco drifted off to sleep again, she caught sight of a strange mark on his wrist. It was a tiny blue star, barely visible, but if you looked closely, you could see it.

"It can't be," Narcissa whispered to herself. She shook her head to clear the thought that had just occurred to her and left the room to let Draco sleep in peace.


	17. Chapter 17

Harry crept through a dark, little used hallway with Hermione and Cheneya.

"Get inside, get the map, and we're out of here," Cheneya instructed. "I'll be out here guarding."

They were after one of the Order's maps. Even though Marilu had told them not to discuss their plans to find Voldemort's alter ego during Christmas break, Harry couldn't resist the adventure. Besides, they needed to be prepared.

They came to an iron door that was bolted shut.

"Alohomora," said Hermione, but it was to no avail. The door didn't budge.

Cheneya groaned in frustration. "Now what?"

"Don't worry, I didn't expect that to work," said Hermione.

She took a deep breath, gripped her wand, and said, "Informationem Revelanda Erat!"

Suddenly, the door started eerily glowing blue. In front of Hermione appeared a list of enchantments, written in the same glowing blue. Cheneya took out her wand, and together with Hermione, started undoing the protection spells.

"There are some really ugly curses on this thing," Cheneya commented. "If you so much as tap the third deadbolt, your hair catches on fire."

"Make yourself useful, Harry," Hermione told the boy, who had been standing there watching them instead of helping.

"I don't know half of these spells," said Harry.

"Work on what you know," said Hermione. "As for the rest, I'll have to teach you a thing or two later."

Harry grinned. He took his wand out of his pocket and began to work with the girls.

When the list of enchantments was over, the door was still locked.

"Ugh, that would be my dad's fault," said Cheneya. "He's too smart to leave something precious guarded only by magic. These are powerful Muggle locks in addition to the spells."

Cheneya took out a hair pin and began to pick the locks. She made short work of them. "That's something else I learned from my dad. Now hurry!"

Harry and Hermione sprinted into the room while Cheneya stood at the entrance with her wand in hand and a fierce expression on her face. Harry stared in awe at the room. No wonder it was guarded so heavily. This was an oasis of information. There were endless rows of drawers filled with classified files, several cabinets holding maps, and database containing numerous criminal cases the Order was working on. Hermione was completely frozen, her eyes locked on a sizable bookshelf.

"Come on, Hermione, we have to get working," said Harry.

"I need to get my hands on one of those books," said Hermione breathlessly.

"We don't have time for that!"

"Harry Potter! Do you know how amazing those books are? They can teach you extremely powerful magic. The deep stuff, you know? Have you any idea what we can accomplish with that?"

"Get the books or don't get the books, whatever you choose, decide now! We're running out of time," said Cheneya, gracing them with her own input.

"Fine," said Harry. "Get the books. Not too many, or they'll know that you stole them."

Hermione clapped her hands excitedly and ran to the bookshelf. She selected two books: one on the subject of healing potions, and one about magical theory. "Just so you know, I'll be coming back here for more books," she announced.

"Right, and I'll turn into a unicorn. Now quit the dilly dallying and get the map," said Cheneya.

Harry noticed a cabinet that held several copies of a map that displayed Voldemort's hideout. He reached out to grab one, but Hermione grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"The cabinet could be jinxed to prevent theft," she told him.

Harry removed his wand from his pocket and used the spell that he'd seen Hermione cast on the door. "Informationem Revelanda Erat!"

"Nice work!" said Hermione as the list of enchantments appeared. "They probably use a password on these things, by the way, but since we don't know it, we'll have to use that spell."

They undid the curses together. Harry grabbed the map and bolted for the exit with Hermione at his side.

"Let's go!" he said to Cheneya.

They prepared to take off down the hallway when the heard footsteps—adult footsteps—and voices nearby. Some members of the Order had decided to climb the long flight of stairs and pay a visit to the secret room. Harry couldn't see who it was, as the hallway was filled with twists and curves. Cheneya wasted no time in shoving Harry and Hermione into the room and running in herself.

"Reditum," she said softly. The door swung shut, and its locks snapped back into place.

"The old enchantments are restored too, now," Cheneya explained. "That's what the spell does. Anyway, back to business: WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"

"I don't know! I'm blanking!" said Hermione in a panicky voice.

The footsteps got closer and closer. Harry spotted a gap between the bookshelf and the wall that could potentially fit three relatively slim teenagers.

"Get in," he said quickly, pushing the girls into the space before slipping in himself.

Cheneya high fived him while they stood in the small, cramped space.

Just then, an adult's voice said, "Lemon drops."

The door opened for them and their companion without a hitch. The trio exchanged a knowing glance. That must have been the password to the room.

The adults turned out to be Bellatrix, Lily, and Alice.

"I just don't understand why Fudge is trying to attack us," Bellatrix complained. "We're trying to protect innocent lives from being taken, and what does he do? Bars us from taking action!"

"He's jealous of Dumbledore," said Alice. "Anyway, you know he can't stop us. Most of the Aurors are in the Order of the Phoenix anyway."

"Where's that book on magical theory?" asked Lily. "I thought James was going to return it."

"I guess he didn't," said Bellatrix. "Why? Do you need it?"

"No, I just noticed it was missing," said Lily.

Harry raised his eyebrows at Hermione, who smiled sheepishly. Sensing that the women were drawing closer to the bookshelf, Harry backed into the wall slowly. To his delight, he felt a flap behind him, a sort of curtain with no surface behind it. He turned to see what it led to. It was a sort of tunnel, an air duct. He poked Cheneya and pointed to it. Cheneya grabbed Hermione by the arm and went inside. Harry followed. He had planned on crawling down slowly, but that resolve soon shattered as he tripped over his untied shoelaces, lost his footing, and fell, consequently bringing Hermione and Cheneya down with him. As the tunnel was slippery, they went shooting down the pipe without any means of hoisting themselves back up. Hermione let out a gut wrenching scream of utter shock. Cheneya cast a silencing charm over her so that the adults upstairs wouldn't hear. The three teens tumbled down until the tube dropped them into the library. Cheneya landed on her feet on top of a shelf and cast a floatation charm on Harry and Hermione to cushion their fall. Then she undid the silence charm she'd placed on Hermione.

"Well," said Hermione. "That was interesting."


	18. Chapter 18

For the second time that week, Andromeda received a visit from Narcissa. This time, however, Narcissa was seeking her in particular.

"Andromeda, do you remember those extra credit seminars we attended in our 7th year at Hogwarts?" she asked.

"Yes, what about them?" Andromeda replied.

"Didn't you go to that one about soulmate magic?" Narcissa queried.

Andromeda could see where this was going. "Yeah, it was rather fascinating."

"Well, Andromeda, I don't know much about soulmate magic, but I do know about the markings," Narcissa started.

"If someone hasn't met their soulmate yet, they will develop a small, tattoo-like mark that represents their other half," Andromeda intoned. "The mark will appear on a different part of the host's body every day."

"Andromeda, yesterday I found a small blue star on Draco's wrist, and today it's on his palm," said Narcissa. "I was wondering if you could take a look at it."

"I'd be happy to. There are some tests I can run, if you want."

"Thank you so much, Andromeda," said Narcissa gratefully.

* * *

The twin sisters apparated to the Malfoy Manor.

"Dobby!" Narcissa called.

The familiar, endearing house elf appeared before them.

"Dobby, will you fetch a drink for Andromeda?"

"What beverage would Miss Andromeda like?" Dobby inquired.

"Coffee, please," said Andromeda.

Dobby snapped his fingers and apparated back to the kitchen.

"So, where's Draco?" asked Andromeda.

"He's in bed, recovering," said Narcissa.

As they climbed up the stairs to Draco's room, Narcissa asked, "Are there any other side effects to this whole soulmate thing?"

"Well, after he meets her, he'll be back to normal, but before he meets her, he may be prone to having nightmares about her when she's in danger or sudden mood swings depending on what she feels at the moment," said Andromeda.

Narcissa sighed. "Draco is guilty on all charges."

* * *

Draco scowled when he saw Andromeda. "What's she doing here?" he spat.

"Have some respect for your aunt," Narcissa growled.

Draco recoiled in shock. "But-but-you raised me to hate blood traitors, and now we're getting friendly with them?"

Narcissa took a deep breath. "Son, I didn't raise you that way. Your father did. I know I should've intervened before, but I didn't have the courage. Now, I know this is hard for you to accept, but we need to respect blood traitors and non-purebloods."

Draco nodded in reluctant assent.

"Now, your Auntie Andromeda is here to help with that mark of yours," said Narcissa.

"The blue star?" asked Draco.

"Yes, that one," said Narcissa. She grabbed his hand and showed it to Andromeda. And there, lo and behold, was the tiny, navy blue star. Andromeda pulled out her wand and performed a few tests on the image, which she'd learned at the soulmate seminar. All of them came to the same, obvious conclusion.

"He has a soulmate," said Andromeda.

"How come we never saw the mark before?" asked Narcissa.

"Well, the younger a person is, the lighter the mark will be. A baby's mark, for example, is invisible. It becomes clearer and clearer with age. Also, the mark tends to stay away from visible areas unless a person is nearing the time that they'll meet their soulmate, and even then, it's reluctant to show itself," Andromeda explained.

"What happens when I meet my soulmate?" asked Draco.

"The mark will disappear from your body and transfer itself to your spirit," Andromeda said simply. "Everyone carries the mark of their soulmate within their life essence, or spirit."

"Do Muggles have soulmates and soulmate marks?" Draco ventured. Andromeda had to smile at his curiosity.

"Yes, they have soulmates, but no, they don't carry soulmate marks. At least, not on their bodies. Their soulmate marks stay inside their souls."

"So, what happens when a Muggle and a wizard are soulmates? Can you be someone's soulmate if they aren't yours? Is it possible to _not_ have a soulmate?"

Andromeda explained how if a wizard and Muggle were soulmates, the wizard would carry the mark while the Muggle would not; soulmates were always reciprocated; and there were some rare cases where people did not have a soulmate. When Draco's curiosity had been slaked, Andromeda and Narcissa left him to rest.

"Will you stay a little longer? It's been a while since we've taken the time just to sit and talk," said Narcissa.

"Of course," said Andromeda.

They sat in the parlor. Andromeda took a sip of the coffee Dobby had made for her. "So, Cissy, how've you been lately?"


	19. Chapter 19

**Hi everyone! I just thought I'd clarify the ages of Harry and his friends. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Cheneya, Marilu, Fiona, and Neville are all Third Years. Ginny is a year younger.**

* * *

Harry found Ginny walking up the stairs to the library in Grimmauld Place.

"Hey Ginny!" he called.

She turned and smiled at him, making his heart skip a beat. "Hi, Harry."

"Mind if I join you?" he asked.

"Not at all. I could use the company."

They walked together up the stairs.

"I was just thinking about Malfoy," said Harry. "The guy spends most of his life dissing us and our friends, then he willingly submits himself to an Unforgivable curse for us."

"Yeah. I was shocked when I heard," said Ginny.

They reached the library and went inside. Side by side, they ambled towards the Quidditch section. They both reached for the same book, then grinned at each other. They began reading it together.

Admittedly, Harry had a hard time concentrating on the book with Ginny there. He kept looking up at her instead of reading.

Harry had developed a crush on Ginny in his second year. They'd always been friends, having known each other from an early age, as they were both Order children, but Harry realized that (for him at least) there was more than friendship there.

Harry was shocked out of his thoughts when Ginny leaned her head on his shoulder. She kept dropping hints like this that she returned his feelings, but he never knew how to react. This time, however, he had an idea. Summoning all the Gryffindor courage he had in him, he put his arm around her. He half expected her to pull away, or something in that nature, but all she did was look up at him and smile.

Harry knew that this was a good sign. What he didn't know, however, was that Cheneya's prophecy was playing out right before his eyes.


	20. Chapter 20

**Hi guys! Just to clear up some questions I received in a guest review, Luna is a year older than she was in the books because I took a creative liberty. Also, Cheneya and Marilu are not twins. They are 11 months apart in age.**

* * *

Ginny's heart was hammering in her chest. Harry had his arm around her. _Harry had his arm around her._ She was ecstatic!

That was when Fiona and Neville walked in hand in hand (yes, _hand in hand_. It was a mystery to Ginny why they weren't dating).

"Hi guys," Neville greeted them.

Ginny looked at Fiona and was overcome with horror. The look on her face was half smirk, half grin, and she was clearly amused by the romantic situation in front of her. Whenever she got like this, Fiona was inclined to start teasing people about who they fancied. She started giggling, then coughed to disguise it.

"Perhaps you need a drink of water, Fiona," said Ginny sarcastically.

"Yes, I believe I do," Fiona giggled. "I'll be right back, Nev."

She ruffled his hair and skipped out. Neville's ears turned pink.

Ginny sighed with relief. Fiona had a knack for revealing who had a crush on who. When Ginny was a first year, Fiona caused quite a nasty incident between Hermione and Ron. Thankfully, Hermione was able to smooth it over by saying it was a joke, but Ginny wasn't willing to run the risk.

"What happened to her?" asked Neville.

It was Ginny's turn to smirk. "Frog in her throat."

Not seeming to notice the real motive for Fiona's exit, Harry acted as if there was nothing unusual.

"So, what brings you to the library, Neville?" he asked.

"Fiona and I were looking for Herbology books. She wants me to tutor her," Neville added proudly.

"Of course she does," said Ginny.

Both boys looked at her, intrigued by the remark.

"I mean, with you getting top marks in Herbology and all," Ginny drawled.

Neville nodded, seeming a bit disappointed. "Anyway, I'd better go. The Herbology section awaits!"

"Go get 'em, tiger!" Harry joked.


	21. Chapter 21

Lily was sitting through another Order meeting. She sighed. They were just going in circles, not getting anywhere with the prophecy.

"We have no proof that the Dark Lord has an alter ego," Snape argued.

"All aspects of the prophecy point to that," James argued back.

Lily stood up. She'd had enough. "At this point, it doesn't matter whether we have proof. We find a theory, go out and test it, and if it doesn't work, we develop another one."

"She's right," said Bellatrix. "We're not going to miraculously come across the right answer by reading the prophecy over and over again."

"We need to start a course of action," Alice agreed.

"Very well," said Dumbledore. "How do you propose to go about this?"

"We can use the Revelare ritual," said Lily.

The Revelare ritual was a magic ritual that exposed a person's alter ego if they had one, among other magic abnormalities. It was notoriously complicated. Lily's suggestion caused an uproar.

"That's extremely difficult, and it requires multiple casters," said Remus.

"If we train, we can do it," said Lily.

This statement pacified most people.

"The Revelare ritual it is then," said Dumbledore. "I happen to know that it requires exactly three casters. Any volunteers?"

Lily, Bellatrix, and Alice stepped up immediately.

"Excellent. We'll begin preparation tomorrow. As of now, the meeting is adjourned," said Dumbledore.

As people began to leave, Bellatrix asked Lily and Alice if they'd like to stay for dinner.

"I'd love to. What do you think, James?" Lily asked her husband.

"Whatever makes you happy, darling," James answered, absent mindedly stroking her hair.

Meanwhile, Alice and Frank confirmed that they'd stay too.

"Great! I'll go tell Kreacher to prepare dinner, then," said Bellatrix, skipping out.


	22. Chapter 22

Ron and Hermione sat together in the parlor, reading the book on magical theory Hermione had stolen (she preferred the term "borrowed", however). Ron was absolutely baffled by everything, so Hermione explained it to him. She turned out to be a very good teacher.

"What does this mean?" asked Ron, pointing to a sizable paragraph.

"It's the fifth law of magidynamics: magic spells always move in a straight line. See, if I aimed a curse at that wall, I wouldn't be able to make it turn around and come back."

She tucked a strand of her wavy, honey brown hair behind her ear. Her dark eyes shone with excitement. Ron just stared. She was absolutely beautiful, not to mention brilliant.

"Why'd they waste time writing all that gibberish when they could have just put it like you did?" he asked.

"They wanted to sound smart, I guess."

Ron laughed. "You sounded far smarter than the author did."

If Ron had looked at her, he would have seen a blush rising on her cheeks.

Their conversation was interrupted by Cheneya running into the parlor yelling, "Mayday! Mayday! I need to hide the animagus books and myself before Mum catches up to me!"

"Put the books under the couch and turn yourself invisible," said Hermione calmly.

"Thanks," said Cheneya, flicking her wand and disappearing from sight after she shoved the books in the instructed hiding place.

Hermione hid her own "borrowed" magical theory book under the couch as well, just in case.

Seconds later, Bellatrix ran in. "Have either of you seen Cheneya?"

"She disappeared," said Hermione.

Ron doubled over with laughter. Bellatrix just raised her eyebrows.

"10 points to Gryffindor," said Cheneya's disembodied voice.

Bellatrix spun around. "Aha!"

Cheneya returned to visibility. "Couldn't help myself there."

Marilu strolled in. "What's happening?"

"Ah, perfect. I wanted to talk with the both of you," said Bellatrix.

Cheneya and Marilu exchanged worried looks.

"I saw the animagus books you've been reading, and I wanted to know if you needed any help. I'm an animagus myself, you know?"

Cheneya gasped. "Really? You mean it?"

"Of course!"

The sisters squealed.

"When can you start teaching us?" asked Marilu.

"Is now a good time?"

"Yes!" Cheneya shouted.

"Very well, then. Let's go to the library, and I'll tell you what I know."

Ron grinned as they left. "That went better than I thought it would."

"Indeed," said Hermione. "It looks like our friends are well on their way to find their animagus forms."


	23. Chapter 23

Alice Longbottom had recently picked up the hobby of Muggle baking. She knew that she could easily whip up cookies and pies with magic, but there was something soothing about making them from scratch.

One afternoon, she was baking chocolate chip cookies in Grimmauld Place (on Order meeting days, she spent most of her time there). Fiona, Cheneya, and Hermione sat at the kitchen counter while she worked. Fiona and Cheneya were playing cards and Hermione was writing an extra credit essay.

After about an hour, Alice took the cookies out of the oven and cast a cooling charm over them so that the girls could eat them right away. Fiona, who was very fond of cookies, scarfed down five in the time it took Hermione to finish one.

Then Harry, Ron, and Neville came in, covered with snow and Quidditch gear.

"We were practicing," Harry explained, "and we got thirsty."

Alice poured them each a glass of water, which they gratefully took.

"Thanks, Aunt Alice," said Harry before chugging his.

"Oh, can I have a cookie?" asked Ron.

"Of course!" said Alice.

So Ron put his now half full glass of water on top of the stack of Quidditch gear he was holding. Alice couldn't help but notice how it was precariously tilted to the side.

"Carefully, dear," she began just as Ron tripped over the hem of his robe, spilling water over the three girls.

"My clothes!" Cheneya groaned.

"My homework!" Hermione screamed.

"My cookie!" Fiona screeched, the most indignant of all.

Ron apologized, but Fiona wasn't satisfied.

"You'd better get me another cookie," she demanded.

So Ron took Cheneya's cookie, which was still dry, and gave it to Fiona. Fiona was instantly pacified. Alice laughed as Cheneya rolled her eyes and grabbed another cookie from the platter. Alice then cast a drying charm over Cheneya's clothes and a water suction charm over Hermione's essay, so that both items looked good as new. Hermione actually hugged her essay to her chest and squealed.

"Thank you so much!" she said happily.

Ron gave her a look.

"I worked hard on it," she said defensively.

Ron looked like he was going to respond, thought better of it, and closed his mouth.

"Good choice, mate," said Harry, clapping him on the back.


	24. Chapter 24

Later that day, Hermione sat in the library, reading a book on spell creation. It was a fascinating read, not to mention useful. She was about halfway through it when Ginny skipped in.

"Hermione," Ginny drawled. "Sweet, wise, wonderful Hermione. Hermione, queen of the library-"

"What is it, Ginny?" said Hermione, sensing that the redhead was trying to get something out of her.

"Can I do your hair?" asked Ginny.

Hermione groaned. "My hair is bushy and ugly. Why would you want to style it?"

"Your hair is wavy and pretty," Ginny corrected, "and I want to spend time with you. It'll be fun, you'll see! We'll do each other's hair and play with nail polish and talk about boys, and it'll be great."

"I guess I could use a break from reading," Hermione mused, putting a bookmark where she left off.

"Yay!" Ginny squealed. "Now, let's go!"

She took Hermione to the front entrance, where they found a large box with Ginny's initials on it.

"Everything we need is in here," said Ginny, prying off the lid to reveal hair brushes, nail polish, perfumes, Muggle makeup, shampoo, conditioner, hair products, and all sorts of other beauty things.

"I didn't know that witches used these," said Hermione, holding up a tube of Covergirl mascara. She'd seen her mother buy Covergirl makeup, so she knew it was a Muggle invention.

"They don't," said Ginny. "I just happen to like Covergirl products. Those Muggles know what they're doing."

They giggled and ran upstairs and into one of the bathrooms.

"Are you sure the adults will be okay with this?" asked Hermione.

"They won't care," said Ginny confidently.

The next hour was a very enjoyable one for both of them. First, they styled each other's hair. They played with Ginny's hair products, a mixture of Muggle items and potions from special salons for witches. Sometimes the products would cause a disaster, and the girls would laugh until their sides ached. In the end, Ginny and Hermione corrected the mishaps and achieved shiny, smooth hair. Ginny pulled Hermione's hair into a bun, with stray strands of wavy hair framing her face. Hermione gave Ginny loose curls at the ends of her flaming red hair.

"We look like runway models," Ginny giggled. She struck a pose, putting her hands on her hips and winking.

Hermione laughed. "You're a natural. Maybe the Muggles will hire you during Fashion Week."

"Sure, I'll strut down the catwalk wearing Gryffindor robes. The Muggles won't know what hit them."

That sent Hermione and Ginny into a fit of hysterical laughter for the fifth time that day. Before they could regain their composure, the bathroom door swung open, revealing Ron. He was staring at them with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Seriously, what in the name of Merlin are you two doing?"

"We're playing with my beauty tools," said Ginny cheerfully.

Ron's mouth dropped open. "Merlin, Hermione…"

Hermione folded her arms across her chest self-consciously. She waited for Ron to say something nasty about girls and their beauty products, but he never did.

What he actually said was, "You look good."

Hermione felt her face turn beet red. "Um, thanks," she stammered.

Ron was also turning quite red in the face, and Ginny was looking back and forth between the two of them with her eyebrows raised. Probably sensing the discomfort of the situation, she grabbed Hermione by the elbow and marched out of the bathroom.

"Well, we have to go upstairs now. See you later, Ron," she announced loudly.

As soon as they were in the library, Hermione collapsed onto an armchair.

"So," Ginny drawled. "You and Ron, huh?"

"Don't be silly. He doesn't like me in that way," said Hermione miserably.

Ginny slammed her fist into a bookshelf in exasperation. "Hermione Jean Granger! They call you the brightest witch of your age, and yet you find yourself incapable seeing the obvious?"

"I don't want to make assumptions," Hermione muttered. "Besides, he still insults me sometimes for liking books so much, and other things like that."

"That's because boys are idiots," said Ginny matter-of-factly.

"Even Harry?" Hermione joked, elbowing Ginny and winking.

Ginny sighed. "He's still an idiot. A lovable idiot, granted. Anyway, back to the heart of the situation: are you in love with my brother?"

"Love is a very strong word…"

"Either you are or you're not, 'Mione."

"Alright, I am!" said Hermione. "But promise me you won't go gossiping about it."

"I don't do gossip. I prefer to hoard the secrets I know."

"What secrets?" asked a voice coming from the entrance to the library.

Hermione and Ginny spun around. It was Fiona. The girls exchanged a glance.

"I'm kidding, you don't have to tell me," said Fiona.

They sighed with relief.

"Mainly because I overheard the entire conversation," Fiona added.

"What?" Hermione screeched.

"Look, I swear I won't do what I did last year," said Fiona. "Can we start over? You can trust me! I'll even tell you who I have a crush on."

"You mean Neville?" said the two in unison.

"How'd you know?"

"It's obvious," said Ginny. "You love each other."

"Shut up," said Fiona, smacking her arm. "Now tell me who you like!"

"Harry," Ginny confessed.

"I knew it!" said three voices behind them.

The three spun around again. Luna, Cheneya, and Marilu stepped out from behind a bookshelf.

"Relax, we'll tell you who we fancy too," Marilu offered.

"What is this, the national crush convention?" Hermione yelled.

"No, this is six close friends having a heart to heart conversation," Cheneya corrected.

"Alright, spill," said Fiona eagerly. She rather enjoyed learning who fancied who.

They ended up learning that Cheneya liked Dean Thomas, Marilu like Blaise Zabini, and Luna didn't like anyone.

"I'll tell you when I do," she said. "I was using Cheneya and Marilu's method of seeing the future, and I discovered that I'll fancy someone by next year, but I don't know who it is."

"I hope he's not one of the annoying boys," Fiona muttered.

"Okay, everyone," said Ginny. "What was said in this library stays between us. Have I made myself clear?"

There was a murmur of agreement among the girls.

"Okay, now let's go eat. I'm hungry," said Fiona, skipping out of the library.

Hermione laughed and shook her head, following after her bubbly friend.


	25. Chapter 25

James was poring over a book on magic rituals, trying to find something that could help Lily and the others with the Revelare ritual. He wanted to help his wife and her friends in any way he could.

It was nearing twilight when he heard Sirius yelling for him.

"Prongs, mate, where are you? Dinner's ready and I'm hungry and you need to get your arse downstairs!"

"Can it, Padfoot, I'm coming!" James yelled back.

Since childhood, the Marauders had always teasingly bickered amongst themselves. To anyone else, it would have sounded like James and Sirius were actually cross with each other, but they were both grinning as James bounded down the stairs.

"Kreacher made shrimp fried in garlic and parsley," said Sirius. "The smell's been driving me mad. I hate smelling good food and not being able to eat it."

"You and me both," James agreed. "That's part of the reason I was hiding out in your library. By the way, you have some excellent books on magic rituals. I wish we got hold of some during our Hogwarts days. They would have made for spectacular pranks."

Sirius laughed. "I'm sure that Cheneya or Marilu would be up to the task."

There was a pause.

"You know, Bellatrix and I have been thinking of renovating this place," said Sirius. "We think it's too dark and somber. Not to mention that it's been a constant echo of the days we were both trapped here."

He shuddered. James patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"It must be hard, living in a reminder of the worst days of your lives," James acknowledged.

"She makes it easier," Sirius admitted. "Bellatrix, I mean. As long as I'm with her, I can withstand anything. She's my light in the darkness."

They reached the dining room and went inside. The others (Lily, Bellatrix, Alice, Frank, Harry, Neville, Cheneya, Marilu, Fiona, and Luna) were waiting for them. After saying grace, the small group began eating.

"So," said Alice, "I've been thinking about all these things that are going on with the Order, with the Hogsmeade raid that Voldemort planned, and the prophecy being found, and I think we should give these kids extra practice with combat spells. You know, to defend themselves if they have to."

"Isn't there a dueling club at Hogwarts?" asked Lily.

"There was," said Neville. "Lockhart and Snape taught it, though. That's why people stopped going: Lockhart had no idea what he was doing. And after he left, it was cancelled altogether."

"Lockhart is an idiot," Lily groaned. "I doubt you learned anything substantial from that club. Somebody needs to teach you kids real spellwork: Defense Against the Dark Arts won't cover everything."

"We have Hermione, Cheneya, Marilu, Fiona, Luna…" Harry started ticking off their names on his fingers. "They teach us what we need to know."

James shook his head. "It's great that they take the initiative to learn more spells, but teaching yourself spells from a book can only take you so far. You need someone with practical experience, who can coach you as you go and offer individualized tips."

Marilu jumped up. "You guys can teach us! You have the experience, you've fought with murderous Death Eaters and survived."

"Well, you see, none of us have a degree," said James. "We can duel well, yes, but we aren't like your teachers at Hogwarts."

"Lockhart had a degree," Cheneya pointed out.

"I don't see the harm in teaching the kids ourselves," said Sirius. "We know plenty of things that can help them."

"Alright," said James thoughtfully. "I guess it could help. What do you kids already know about dueling spells?"

"I can make my opponent violently sick," said Cheneya, grinning evilly.

"I can freeze them in a block of ice," said Marilu, brandishing her wand.

"I can make my eyebrows turn purple," Fiona offered.

Harry started laughing at her.

"I can also do this," she said, pulling out her wand. "Aculeus!"

Harry winced as the stinging spell hit him in the arm. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry I laughed at you."

"It seems that you're already quite advanced," said Bellatrix, impressed. "Not advanced enough to fight a Death Eater, but quite beyond most kids of your year."

"When can we start training?" said Marilu eagerly.

"Tomorrow, after the meeting," said Alice. "For now, rest. Prepare yourselves for training."

* * *

 **Hi guys! I've decided that I'm going to start updating weekly, so that these chapters don't come so sporadically. Also, to the reviewer who suggest that I write Draco/Luna: I'm sorry, but I had other plans for the two of them. If you want, though, I can write a separate story about Draco and Luna for you. Feel free to PM me about that if you want.**


	26. Chapter 26

After dinner, the Cheneya, Marilu, Fiona, and Luna went upstairs to change into pajamas. Luna decided to wear her Crumple Horned Snorkack outfit, which was basically white flannel nightclothes with the mystical beast pictured on the front. Luna had created the outfit herself with her magic paints. She smiled proudly at her masterpiece in the mirror. After changing, Luna fished her spectrespecs out of her trunk and sat down on the pillow fort, polishing them.

"Can I wear your glasses, Luna?" asked Fiona, sitting next to her.

"Sure, but I doubt that there are any wrackspurts in here right now," said Luna, handing her the glasses.

"What are wrackspurts again? I forgot," said Fiona sheepishly.

"You forget everything, Fiona," Marilu teased.

Fiona laughed. "True, though."

"Wrackspurts are little furry grey creatures that fly around, and if they get inside your head, they make your thoughts fuzzy," Luna explained as Fiona put on the glasses.

Fiona looked around the room. "I don't see anything."

"Like I said, no wrackspurts here," said Luna.

"Marilu doesn't need wrackspurts to make her brain fuzzy," said Fiona triumphantly, adopting her patented smirk of doom.

"Oh, sweet Merlin," Marilu groaned.

"She has Blaise Zabini," Fiona drawled, raising her eyebrows up and down.

"Okay, you know what? Electrica!" said Marilu, zapping Fiona with her wand.

Fiona yelped at the electrical shock hex. "Oh, you wanna go there? Let's go there then."

In a split second, both girls had their wands out and were dueling expertly. Cheneya and Luna ducked to avoid all the hexes flying back and forth.

"Thank your lucky stars that you don't know who you fancy yet, Luna," said Cheneya. "You have a couple months more of reprieve."

"Be sure to give Dean Thomas my regards," Fiona yelled while sending a blast of water at Marilu.

Luna laughed while Cheneya buried her face in her hands.

"Tell Neville to invite me to your wedding," Luna called to Fiona.

Fiona turned bright red. The brief moment of distraction gave Marilu the upper hand, and she was quick to send a stunning spell at Fiona. Fiona froze in place and Marilu sighed in relief.

"Truce?" she asked.

"Truce," Fiona agreed.


	27. Chapter 27

A few days after the torture session, Draco was wandering aimlessly around the Malfoy Manor. His parents had grown overprotective after Voldemort's little stunt, and he wasn't allowed to leave the house until school began again. He had mostly been strolling through the grounds, thinking about the mysterious unknown girl that was his soulmate and wondering what he was going to do with his life from now on. His parents had made it clear that there was to be no more pureblood supremacy. He had to start treating muggle borns as equals. Draco had never been one to disobey his parents, and he wasn't inclined to start now, so he was left with the fear of what was to come when he returned to Hogwarts. The other Slytherins would never accept him: he would be considered a blood traitor, just as bad as the muggle borns. Draco doubted that Harry Potter and his squad would take him as a friend after all he had done to them for the past three years. As for all the other students, they were just terrified of him. He was one of the Slytherin bullies, after all. Would Draco be alone for the next four years? He shuddered at the thought.

As he was mentally preparing himself for social exile, he remembered one friend of his who had always been neutral: Blaise Zabini. Blaise was an old buddy of his: they had known each other all their lives, as their parents were friends. Draco considered the idea that maybe Blaise would stick with him through it all, but quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. He knew that anyone who was his friend would also be exiled by the Slytherins, and he wasn't sure that even a neutral like Blaise would put up with that for him.

As if on cue, Dobby came running down the hallway. "Master Draco! Master Draco! Mister Zabini is at the door and told Dobby that he wished to speak with you."

"Which Mister Zabini?" Draco asked, slightly amazed at the coincidence. He had just been thinking of them.

"The younger Zabini, Master Draco."

"Thanks, Dobby. And by the way, you can call me plain old Draco. I don't need a title."

"Master Draco is very humble," said Dobby, wide eyed. "Master Draco is changing his ways."

Draco laughed and patted the house elf on the top of the head. "Really, it's just Draco."

"Whatever Master Draco wishes," said Dobby, running into the kitchen.

Draco headed downstairs to greet his friend, wondering how to break the news that he wasn't for pureblood supremacy anymore.

Blaise Zabini was shrugging off his thick coat when Draco came.

"I heard about the soulmate," he said teasingly.

Draco sighed. Blaise liked to get straight to the point.

"What else did you hear?" asked Draco nervously.

"I also heard that you and your family are turning to the light side," said Blaise. "That's why I'm here, actually."

"To tell me we can't be friends anymore?" Draco deadpanned, hiding his despair behind a mask of indifference.

"No, you twit. I came to tell you that I'm on your side, and we're going to face the other Slytherins together."

"Wait, hold on a second," Draco began, hardly daring to believe the good news.

"I can see we have a lot to talk about. Can I come inside the parlor?" Blaise asked, already striding in.

"Yeah. You want some hot chocolate?"

"Have I ever said no to anything with chocolate in it?"

Draco grinned. Clearly, he had underestimated his friend: Blaise was no weakling, emotionally or otherwise. He wasn't going to abandon Draco for the sake of social approval.

"You're a good friend, Blaise."

"I could say the same about you, mate," said Blaise, ruffling his hair.

* * *

After Dobby brought their hot chocolate down, the boys began to talk.

"You know, the other Slytherins are going to hate us," said Draco. "Are you sure you want that?"

"I'm sure. This whole thing has been long overdue. We need to stand up to them now."

Draco was suddenly hit with a revelation. "You were never really neutral, were you?"

Blaise broke into a huge grin. "Nope. I switched to the light side a long time ago. I've been waiting for you to come around."

Draco recalled seeing his friend gazing at the Hufflepuff table during mealtimes, possibly at a girl with glossy black hair, shining green eyes, and a warm smile.

"Does this have anything to do with Marilu Black?" asked Draco, raising an eyebrow.

Blaise's olive colored skin began to turn candy apple red. "How did you know?"

Draco shrugged. "I've seen the way you look at her. I always assumed it was my imagination playing tricks on me, but I guess not."

Blaise took a deep breath. "Once, in first year Potions, Professor Snape assigned me to be her partner. We got to talking, and she was telling me about her life, and about what she believed in. And it really got me thinking, you know? The way she explained it to me, so confident in her opinions, just made sense. Since then, I've seen things the way she does. I also remember how she was different from other girls I knew. Being around her just felt right. I didn't have to act or talk a certain way to earn her approval. She let me be myself."

"A true Hufflepuff," Draco noted. "Funny, I always thought that Hufflepuffs were timid little wimps."

Blaise snorted. "Have you met Fiona?"

"Okay, I take back my words."

"Maybe your soulmate will be in Hufflepuff," said Blaise.

Draco rolled his eyes. "The only reason I have the soulmate mark is that I don't know my soulmate yet. Obviously, she doesn't go to Hogwarts."

"Well, let's review what we know about her," Blaise suggested.

"What _I_ know about her," Draco corrected.

"Whatever. Same thing."

"Well, she's represented by this blue star," said Draco, rolling up his sleeve to show it. "I've had nightmares about her being in danger, but I don't remember much from them. I only know that she's a witch, she was being persecuted, and she talks weird."

"Like how?" asked Blaise.

"Like this," said Draco, forcing her accent into his voice.

Blaise snapped his fingers in recognition. "That's American! She's from the United States!"

"Do you think I'll ever meet her, then?" asked Draco.

"Of course, you will" said Blaise. "Soulmates always meet in the end."


	28. Chapter 28

It was finally Christmas Eve. Bellatrix, Sirius, Cheneya, Marilu, Luna, and Fiona had just returned from Christmas Mass.

"It's almost time for the party!" said Fiona excitedly.

Cheneya could hardly wait for the festivities. Christmas was her favorite time of the year. Plus, she had a feeling that this Christmas would be really special. Like something big was going to happen.

The Order planned to have one large celebration at Grimmauld Place before returning to their own homes for a quieter celebration. The first to arrive were Dumbledore, Kingsley, Professor Snape, and McGonagall.

"Merry Christmas!" said Dumbledore happily. He was holding a very large stack of gifts, which he set under the Christmas tree.

"Hi, Uncle Snape!" said Fiona, hugging her uncle. "Merry Christmas!"

Cheneya saw his features relax into a rare smile. "Merry Christmas, little Fifi," he told her.

The next to arrive were Andromeda, Ted, and Nymphadora Tonks.

"Hey, guys," said Nymphadora, ruffling the hair of her cousins. "You've grown since I saw you last."

"You were here yesterday, Dora," Marilu giggled. Dora was hilarious.

"I'm aware of that. Hey, want some candy?" she pulled a container of Bertie Botts Every Flavor beans.

"Sure, I'll try my luck with this green one." Cheneya reached for the jelly bean, popped it into her mouth, and promptly made a face of disgust. It tasted like vomit. "This is nasty."

"I ate all the good ones!" said Dora, howling with laughter at the prank.

She took off, and Cheneya started chasing her around the house. "Marilu, I need backup!"

"We're coming!" Marilu yelled back, taking off with the other girls.

The next to arrive were the Potters, just as the girls had tackled Dora and were pinning her arms behind her back.

"Four against one isn't fair," she groaned.

"Rigging the jelly beans isn't fair either," said Marilu.

"You're a fellow Hufflepuff, Marilu! You're supposed to be nice!"

"Hufflepuff is the house of the _just_ , for crying out loud," said Fiona. "We're all about fairness. We aren't always nice. I'm scary."

Professor Snape laughed. "You can be terrifying when you want to be."

"Guys, what in the name of Merlin are you doing?" asked Harry, who was standing in the entrance.

"Getting revenge. Wanna help?" asked Cheneya.

"No thanks. Separatum!"

Instantly, the girls and Dora were yanked apart by an invisible force, stopping the fight.

"Nice spell," said Cheneya, not unfazed in the least.

"Honestly, you girls shouldn't fight like that," Andromeda chided.

"What's a little scuffle between cousins?" Dora joked.

Marilu stole Harry's glasses and put them on. "Do I look fabulous?"

"I can't see without those," Harry protested.

The doorbell rang again. While Marilu was distracted, Harry stole the glasses back.

The Longbottoms were the next to join the party.

"Hi, Nev!" Fiona grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"Fifi!" Neville cried happily, matching her enthusiasm.

Harry started laughing until Marilu elbowed him hard in the ribs. Professor Snape smirked slightly.

When the Weasleys showed up, Neville and Fiona were having an animated conversation about Herbology while everyone else was having an arm wrestling competition. Cheneya was beating everyone else, although Harry was close to winning until he saw Ginny come in. He then abandoned the match, adjusted his hair, and went over to talk to her.

The Weasleys were followed by Hermione and her parents (Sirius and Bellatrix had charmed the manor so that Hermione's parents were the only Muggles that could see it).

Cheneya got a warm feeling in her heart. Their group was finally complete. But something was off…

"I feel like we're missing something," Marilu whispered, voicing her thoughts.

"I know," said Cheneya, holding her sister's hand. "We'll find out soon, I suppose."

The doorbell rang once more.

"It must be them!" said Bellatrix enthusiastically. "I was worried that they wouldn't come."

The other adults seemed to understand what she was talking about, but Cheneya was puzzled. "Who are we talking about?"

"Your other aunt is here," said Bellatrix, pulling the door open. "Cissy came to the party."

Sure enough, Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco were standing in front of the door. Narcissa ran to hug her sisters, as well as Cheneya and Marilu.

"I see my fellow spies have returned," Snape smiled warmly. Cheneya knew that he was close to the Malfoys. Lucius had been his childhood friend, not to mention that they were in the same position: respected Death Eaters secretly defying their "master"

While Narcissa and Lucius went to talk to the adults, Draco awkwardly approached Cheneya and the others.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, "for everything. I understand if you can't forgive me, but I want you to know that…"

"We forgive you, mate," said Harry.

Ron nodded. "We may not have gotten along in the past, but you saved our lives."

"You stood up to Voldemort for us," said Cheneya. "That's more than enough proof that you care about us."

"Can we start over?" asked Neville. "Forget all the bad things that passed between us, and just be friends?"

Draco smiled broadly. This was the happiest Cheneya had ever seen him thus far. "There's nothing I want more."

Marilu threw her arms around him, triggering a giant group hug. And, finally, Cheneya felt something click into place. This Christmas was perfect.

On the other side of the room, the Black sisters were observing them.

"I'm glad that they were able to make up," said Narcissa. "Draco was worried that they wouldn't accept him. He wouldn't admit it, but I could see how scared he was, pacing back and forth, tapping his feet in anxiety…"

"They're good kids," Andromeda reflected. "Draco did something that even some adults can't do: acknowledged his mistakes and apologized. And the other kids did something even harder: they let go of the past and forgave him."

"I guess this is what people call a Christmas miracle," said Bellatrix.

The group of friends were eager to catch up with Draco.

"So, Blaise is on our side, too?" asked Ron.

"I knew it!" Marilu declared. "I knew Blaise wasn't on the Dark Side."

"This whole thing about Blaise is great, but I want to know about the soulmate," said Fiona. "I'm going to tease the heck out of you!"

"Nice try, but she lives in the States," Draco countered.

"The United States?"

"No, the Divided States," Draco laughed. "Which other states could I possibly be referring to?"

Fiona stuck her tongue out at him, then giggled.

There was suddenly a loud rustling in the fireplace.

"It's Santa Claus!" Fiona yelled, making Sirius laugh.

"Someone is trying to come here by the Floo system," said Bellatrix. "I'm going to let them in."

She waved her wand, granting permission for the person to come in. A woman stepped out.

"Mom?" Fiona squeaked.

Cheneya could see the resemblance between the two of them. They had the same dark hair, the same freckles, the same pale skin. The eyes were different, though. Fiona's eyes were blueish grey, like the ocean. Her mother's eyes were so dark, they were almost black. Her brother's eyes.

Snape ran to embrace his sister. "Camilla, I haven't seen you in ages!"

"I thought you were travelling," said Fiona. "You're always travelling…"

"I know. I still am, but I thought I'd pop in to say hi before my conference on Magizoology."

Fiona's mother was a talented, half-blood witch. She was very career driven, and was always travelling for her work. Cheneya knew that part of the reason for her travels was also to get away from her husband, Ray.

"I love you, Mum," said Fiona, hugging her tightly.

Camilla's eyes sparkled with tears. "I love you too. Now listen, Fiona, I need you to know that something bad might happen, and it's going to happen soon. I've been awfully selfish, travelling to get away from my problems. I can't hide from them much longer."

"Is this about Ray?" asked Fiona furiously. She refused to call him "Dad" She couldn't even fathom how they were related.

Camilla sighed. "Yes."

She took a necklace out of her pocket and gave it to Fiona. It had a white sea shell pendent. "I wanted you to have this. My mother gave it to me, and now I'm giving it to you."

"It's beautiful," Fiona whispered. "Thank you."

Camilla just smiled, gave her daughter and her brother one last hug, and stepped back into the fireplace. She disappeared in a cloud of smoke, returning to her conference in Australia.

Fiona looked sad for a moment before adopting a more determined expression. She fastened the necklace around her throat.

"She can handle it," said Fiona confidently. "Ray can't hurt her."

Snape looked perturbed, but he quickly shook his head. "I'm sure you're right. She'll be fine."

Kreacher came running out of the kitchen. "Kreacher has prepared dinner!"

They went into the dining hall. Cheneya loaded her plate full of chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and salad. They spent dinner talking happily about school, the Order, and Quidditch. For desert, there was treacle tart, pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, and plenty of candies. Fiona ate so much of it that she went on a sugar high and started laughing hysterically at everything.

Opening presents was even more fun. Cheneya got books from almost everyone, a fact that delighted her Ravenclaw self to the core. She also got a new quill set and plenty of new parchment from her parents.

At the very end of the evening, Fiona had fallen asleep on her lap. She and Marilu carried her up to their room before waking her up to brush her teeth. When Cheneya, Marilu, Fiona, and Luna were all ready for bed, they lay awake for a few minutes.

"That was a really amazing Christmas," Fiona whispered. "Neville got me these rare potion ingredients that I can use to make some really cool stuff…"

"And Draco's our friend now," Luna added. "He changed his ways. He even gave Fred and George a collection of pranking potions."

"We're going back to school soon," Cheneya mused. "Christmas vacation is ending."

"We'll have to tell Draco about the plan," said Marilu. "Our plan to give the Dark Lord Alter Ego Revealer."

"Oh, boy. This is going to be an eventful rest of the school year," Fiona breathed before drifting off to sleep.


	29. Chapter 29

Harry hauled his stuff onto the Hogwarts Express.

"Bye, Mum! Bye, Dad!" he called, waving at his parents.

"Have fun, Harry!" he could hear his mum yell back.

Satisfied, Harry moved into a compartment with his friends. Ron and Neville were playing chess; Luna, Ginny, and Hermione were discussing politics (namely, the incompetence of Cornelius Fudge); and Cheneya, Marilu, and Fiona were reading _Unlocking Your Animagus Form_ together. Cheneya was taking notes on it with her new quill. She was quite fond of that quill: it was a crow feather quill, notorious for its fine writing. She had gotten it from Harry's mom (her godmother) on Christmas.

"Where are Draco and Blaise?" asked Harry, sitting next to Hermione.

Marilu looked up from her book. "They left to get candy from the trolley lady a few minutes ago. I expect they'll be back shortly."

The compartment door slid open at that moment, revealing a tall boy with neatly combed light brown hair, shocking sapphire blue eyes, and an air of arrogance about him. His eyes narrowed when he saw the group inside it.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the scum of Hogwarts," he drawled.

Harry instantly recognized him as Theodore Nott, a pureblood supremacist.

"Leave us alone," said Hermione, in a very authoritative (and also very scary) tone.

"Who are you to tell me what to do, Mudblood?" Theo sneered.

That was his first mistake. Ron whipped out his wand, ready to defend her. She calmly reached out and blocked him.

"Don't sink to his level," she told him.

This made Theo even angrier. "You know what Muggles are? Skunks. Your entire family is skunks."

"They smell better than you!" Fiona hollered. She and Neville started laughing hysterically.

"Pathetic Hufflepuff," Theo snarled, taking out his wand to hex her.

Fiona and Marilu were on their feet in an instant, ready to defend their house. As Theo was about to say an incantation, a pale hand reached out from behind him to push his wand out of the way.

"Leave them alone, Nott," said Draco.

"And don't go around picking fights with the house of badgers," said Blaise, who was standing at his friend's side. "Badgers can be quite vicious when provoked."

The expression in Theo's face turned from surprise to anger to disgust. "Since when do you side with them?"

"Since I realized that blood isn't what makes you pure," said Draco defiantly, staring down his housemate.

"You don't deserve to be in the house of snakes," Theo growled. "Neither of you. I admit that I should have seen past you, Zabini. No one is ever really neutral."

Blaise just grinned. "Guilty as charged."

"No Slytherin is ever going to speak to you again. I'll make sure of that," said Theo.

"We don't need them," said Blaise, completely unfazed by his threat. "We already had each other."

"And you have us now," said Cheneya. She and Marilu got up and went to stand by them.

Theo laughed. "You? You were both born tainted, daughters of cousins. Not even your pure blood could save you from that fact."

"You son of a basilisk!" Marilu yelled, punching him in the nose.

Cheneya lifted him up by the collar of his shirt. "Take it back," she said, her voice dangerously low. "Take back what you said right now."

Theo kicked her in the stomach, making her grit her teeth in pain, but she did not let go of him, letting him dangle helplessly in the air. Hermione ran to avenge her friend, using a stinging hex on him.

"Stupid Mudblood," Theo yelped.

This time, Hermione could not stop Ron. He took out his wand and made Theo start vomiting slugs. Cheneya had to hold him at a distance so that she wouldn't get showered with the slimy creatures.

"Okay, this is just gross," said Draco.

Cheneya threw him into the hallway. "There. Now he's gone."

Blaise vanished the slugs on the floor. Theo tried to come in again, aiming to get revenge.

"Seriously?" said Ginny in exasperation. "You aren't done yet?"

She took out her wand, "Propellit."

Theo was blasted into the hallway before he could hope to do any damage. Harry stared at Ginny in admiration.

"Nice spell."

She beamed. "Thanks."

They high fived. Meanwhile, Luna used a locking charm on the door.

"He can't bother us now," she told them.

"What about the trolley lady?" asked Fiona, mock pouting. "I want candy."

"Didn't you guys bring some?" asked Neville, looking to Draco and Blaise.

"We ate it on the way here," said Blaise sheepishly.

Harry got up to unlock the door. Suddenly, he was sent sprawling. When he looked down to see what had tripped him, he found that Ginny had been stepping on his untied shoelace. She started laughing at him.

"Hilarious," Harry drawled sarcastically.

There was a knock on the compartment door. The trolley lady stuck her head in. "Candy, anyone?"

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a fistful of galleons. "Pumpkin pasties, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, chocolate frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, please."

She gave Harry the candy, which he then distributed to his friends. Fiona and Neville shared a chocolate frog (it was very unlike Fiona to share) and held hands. Draco looked at Harry and raised his eyebrows. Harry smirked and nodded, answering Draco's nonverbal question.

"I think this is a good time to tell Draco and Blaise about the plan," Cheneya whispered after the trolley lady had left.

"What plan?" asked Draco, unwrapping a chocolate frog.

"We stole an Order map so we can break into the Dark Lord's lair and force feed him the Alter Ego Revealer that I made with Neville and Cheneya," said Fiona casually, as if it was a very simple matter. "Want to join us?"

Draco nearly choked on his chocolate. "Are you kidding? The Dark Lord changes his hideout almost weekly. How can we possibly track him down? Even I don't know where he lives now!"

"We have a map," said Neville. "Apparently, the map tracks down his location in case the Order needs to attack."

"Fair enough," said Blaise thoughtfully. "Count me in."

"I'm in, too," said Draco. "We need a more solid plan, though. How are we going to leave school?"

"On a Hogsmeade day?" Marilu offered.

"That's perfect. We'll have a whole day to accomplish the plan," Draco calculated, ever the strategist.

"We need to practice dueling as well," said Blaise. "Voldemort has magic far beyond our skill level as teenagers. There will also be Death Eaters up against us."

"We have a dueling room in Ravenclaw for practice," said Luna.

Cheneya nodded. "That's where Marilu and Fiona spar every afternoon."

"You guys can join us," said Fiona excitedly.

"I would also recommend some light reading," said Hermione, opening her trunk to revealing large volumes of defensive spells. "Personally, I read 50 pages every night to stay sharp."

"It also helps to learn your fighting style, and to be able to switch it up," said Cheneya. "Everyone is born with a tendency to duel a certain way, and these ways have pros and cons. For instance, I'm a relentless attacker by nature: I keep firing off spells to the very end, nonstop. This can help take my opponent by surprise, leaving them without time to think. However, it leaves me without much time to anticipate my opponent's next move. Hermione, on the other hand, is much more thoughtful when she duels. She reacts just enough to keep her opponent at bay, until she formulates the perfect plan of attack. Then she turns the tables on them when they least expect it with a lethal series of spells. The problem with this is that her opponent might fight like I do: firing off spells so fast that she doesn't have time to think. Since we understand our dueling styles, Hermione and I can use that to our advantage. We can also try on other styles of dueling, just so that we don't become too predictable."

"Point taken," said Harry, pondering what his own fighting style was. He decided that he was an instinctive fighter, always anticipating what his opponent's next move will be.

"It's settled then," said Fiona. "We'll read and train every night, and execute the plan next Hogsmeade outing. Now, show me your soulmate mark, Draco. I want to make fun of you."

"It's on my shoulder, so no," said Draco, folding his arms across his chest. "Plus, I don't want you teasing me."

"Please? I need to tease someone! I feed off of the humiliation of others," Fiona protested.

While Fiona and Draco bickered like an old married couple, Harry saw Blaise and Marilu talking quietly.

"How are your parents taking it?" Marilu asked.

"They're fine. We were neutral from the start, so it was a short step away from being on the light side," Blaise replied.

The train then slowed to a stop. They had arrived at Hogwarts.

* * *

In the Great Hall, Harry managed to snag spots at the Gryffindor table for all of them, keeping the Slytherins of their group in mind. He didn't think they wanted to face their housemates so soon. Draco and Blaise gratefully sat down with them. It was then that Harry saw a group of unfamiliar students standing on the other side of the room.

"Who are they?" he whispered to Blaise.

"No idea," Blaise shrugged.

In answer to Harry's question, Dumbledore stood up and began to speak. A hush fell over the crowd.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts!" he said cheerfully. "I don't doubt that you all had a wonderful time off, but I hope you have an even better time back in the castle."

A grave look came over him. "On a much less pleasant note, I have some bad news. There has been an attack on Ilvermorny: a Death Eater attack."

The collective student body gasped.

"Ilvermorny? The magic school in the United States?" Harry gaped.

"But their security was so tight," Ron mused.

"What do the Death Eaters want with the kids in the United States?" Cheneya exclaimed. "They have nothing to do with this!"

Dumbledore raised a hand to silence them. "Fortunately, all of the students and staff there survived. However, this makes things dangerous for wizarding schools everywhere. Clearly, Voldemort's goal is international domination. The United Nations of the Wizarding World is having schools everywhere tighten their security. Ilvermorny has temporarily shut down for the safety of their students. Most of the Ilvermorny students are studying at home now, but those that aren't have been sent to wizarding schools all over the world, including Hogwarts. So now I would like you to welcome your new peers!"

The group that had been standing apart from the rest went up to the front of the hall, and Professor McGonagall began to have them sorted. It was a small group, and therefor a short ceremony.

"Starr, Magdalena!" was the last name called.

Harry observed a girl with shoulder length dark blue hair and grey eyes approach the hat. The hat could be seen talking to her inside her mind. It seemed to make up its mind fairly quickly.

"Slytherin!" it cried.

The girl nodded and walked over to her new table.

"It's really a pity that she's in Slytherin," said Ron thoughtlessly. "She could have been our friend."

Cheneya slammed her fist onto the table. "My _mom_ was in Slytherin, you nitwit."

"You can't judge a person by their house," said Marilu, equally angered.

"I'll bet she's the nicest person ever," Fiona interjected.

"We should go meet her," said Luna, rising from her seat and walking to the Slytherin table.

Harry ran after the girls to explain what Ron meant, but he didn't get a chance. They had already arrived at the table.

Magdalena had just sat down, and introduced herself to the others.

"I've never heard of the Starr family," said Pansy Parkinson with mock sweetness.

"They're Muggles," Magdalena explained.

Pansy immediately adopted a sneer. "Filthy Mudblood. How did you even make it into Slytherin?"

"Shut up, Pansy," said Marilu, rolling her eyes.

"I'm Cheneya," said Cheneya, reaching out to shake the girl's hand. "This is Marilu, this is Fiona, this is Luna, and that dude standing behind us is Harry."

"I'm Maggie," said the girl. "Or Magdalena. Call me whatever you want."

"Can I call you Magstar?" asked Cheneya. "Get it? Because Maggie _Starr_?"

"That's awesome," said Maggie, grinning.

"Can you continue this conversation somewhere else?" Pansy complained.

"Come sit with us, Magstar," said Marilu, leading the girl to the Gryffindor table.

And that was how they met Magstar, the Ilvermorny transfer that would soon become another essential part of their group.


	30. Chapter 30

Maggie sat by herself in the Hogwarts library. She was absorbed in a book about adventures, about warriors, witches, misfit heroes, and prodigious intellects. Reading was one of her ideal ways to pass the time. It helped her avoid the jerks in her Hogwarts house. Most of them jeered at her, taunted her, or just gave her infuriating looks of superiority. There were, however, two exceptions: an Italian looking boy had grinned at her and waved in the hallways. There was also a pale, blond kid who stared at her a lot. He never said anything to her, only watched her out of the corners of his eyes. When she was painting. When she was studying. When she was procrastinating doing her homework by listening to The Beatles on her mp3 player. He was always looking. It brought her more comfort than she liked to admit. On her best days, she thought he was looking out for her. On her worst days, she assumed that he was just observing with contempt. On most days, like this, she was not sure what to make of him at all.

Aside from the Slytherin boys, Maggie had become fast friends with Marilu and Cheneya Black, Fiona Snape (apparently, she went by her mother's last name), and Luna Lovegood. They were a quirky bunch of kids, and Maggie, who saw herself as a very quirky person, could relate to them more than anyone. She had quickly discovered that a Muggleborn Slytherin was a rare phenomenon in Hogwarts, and not the good kind of phenomenon. Her housemates, except for the two boys that had been okay to her, thought of her as a freak. Fortunately, she was not the only "freak" that the Slytherins were worried about. Marilu and Cheneya Black, despite their pureblood status, were hated even more than Muggleborns. They were the daughters of cousins, a fact that supposedly tainted their blood beyond repair. They were also blood traitors like their parents. Fiona Snape was a mixed blood. Her mother was a half blood and her father was a pure blood. People liked to make fun of her for her wild personality, and the fact that she had impure blood, a place in the "disgraced" house of Hufflepuff, and a fiery temper did not make her very popular with the purebloods. Add to that the fact that Professor Snape favored her above all other students, and she was instantly hated. Last of all was Luna Lovegood. Luna was known for her otherworldly ideas. She was a joke to everyone, not only purebloods. Only her friends understood her.

These friends of Maggie's had not gotten out of class yet, which left Maggie with time alone, hiding from her fellow snakes.

She heard the library door swing open. All she could do was sigh and hope for the best. Maybe it would be a sweet little Hufflepuff smiling at literally everyone they saw, a witty Ravenclaw that could help her with her homework, or a friendly Gryffindor that struck up a conversation with whoever stood still long enough (all of these were people Maggie had encountered on her library excursions).

Instead, it was the blond kid. He was walking straight towards her. Maggie internally groaned. She still did not know what he really thought of her, or where he stood on pureblood politics. She would rather just avoid social interaction with Slytherins. If you don't talk to people, they can't hurt you.

"Hi," said the boy, sitting down next to her. "I'm Draco. You're Maggie, right?"

"Yes, my name's Maggie. Are you here to insult me for being a Muggleborn, just like all the others do?" she snapped in the most biting tone she could manage.

Draco shook his head. "I have nothing against Muggleborns. Besides, I'm not like other Slytherins. See, I'm not exactly on good terms with them."

Maggie recalled seeing Draco and the Italian boy sitting alone, separated from the other Slytherins during meal times. She had always assumed that they were just introverts. Maybe she was wrong. "Why not?"

"I changed my views on pureblood supremacy, and now they hate me for it." He shrugged, as if it were a simple matter.

"I guess we're in the same boat," she smiled slightly.

"I like your shirt," Draco added. "Who are those guys on the front?"

Maggie looked down at her Beatles t-shirt. "The Beatles. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr."

"Starr?" asked Draco, surprised at the last name. "Are you related to him?"

"No," Maggie laughed. "It's just a coincidence."

"Why do they call themselves beetles? Beetles are disgusting little-"

Maggie started laughing even harder. "I don't know. People like to name their bands after strange things."

"Can you show me their music?"

Maggie pulled out her mp3 player and selected _Yellow Submarine_. "Here."

Draco put the earbuds in. Maggie was pleased to see his expression of delight upon hearing the song.

He started singing, " _We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine…"_

"Catchy, isn't it?" she asked.

He nodded. "I love it."

"I never thought I'd get a pureblood into the Beatles," Maggie mused.

"Hey, you should sit with me and Blaise during mealtimes," he suggested.

Maggie hesitated. "Why? You don't even like me."

"I like you fine."

"I'm perfectly happy on my own."

"Well, I like you, and I'm going to be your friend."

"I don't need friends."

"Neither do I. It's a shame you ruined it by being so likable."

Maggie quickly recognized that this was a battle she wasn't going to win. Besides, she really did like Draco. She was just afraid of getting hurt.

"Okay," she relented. "I'll sit with you."

His face lit up. "Awesome! Come with me, I'll introduce you to Blaise."

Maggie bookmarked her page and put her book in her schoolbag. "Let's go."


	31. Chapter 31

Bellatrix had received a floo call from the Malfoys for the third time that week.

"Cissy?" she called, pulling her sister from the fireplace. "What brings you here?"

"We have something to tell you," said Lucius grimly. "It would be best to bring your husband here as well. This concerns him more than anyone."

"What about me?" asked Sirius, stepping into the room.

"I might as well just come out and say it," said Lucius. "It's Regulus. He's been helping us."

"What?" Sirius practically yelled. "You're only telling me this now?"

"He requested anonymity," said Narcissa quietly. "He didn't think you would accept him back into the family."

Sirius was getting more and more panicked by the minute. "Why would he ever think that?"

"He knows how much you hate the Dark Side. He feared seeing the disappointment in your eyes from the very beginning."

"Why did he join then?"

"The Dark Lord threatened to kill you if he didn't!" said Lucius.

Bellatrix could feel her head spinning with all the new information. She could only imagine what Sirius was going through.

"How is he?" she asked.

"Not well. He used to live in a flat on Knockturn Alley, but we took him in last week. He hadn't been eating or sleeping much, barely keeping alive."

"Oh my stars," Sirius muttered. "Take us to him. I need to see him. We'll take him in."

"Very well," said Lucius. "Come with us."

He stepped into the fireplace. Narcissa approached Bellatrix.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I was scared, you see-"

"I understand," Bellatrix whispered. "It was a complicated situation."

* * *

At the Malfoy Manor, Narcissa and Lucius led them to a guest bedroom, where they found Regulus reading a Muggle self-help book. Bellatrix would have laughed in any other situation, but the gravity of this moment was not humorous in the least.

"Regulus?" said Sirius tentatively.

Regulus looked up. "Brother?"

In that instance, time stood still. Two brothers, reunited after several years. A broken family pieced back together. There was lots of hugging, and many tears were shed.

"We're here for you, Reggie," said Sirius. "You don't ever have to go back to that monster again. You can stay with us."

"But the Dark Lord will find me, and kill your entire family!" said Regulus. "I can't put you at risk."

"If the Dark Lord could locate the Order's hiding place, he would have done it a long time ago," said Sirius firmly.

"The enchantments placed on it are more than sufficient to keep a crazy madman wizard out," Bellatrix added.

Regulus smiled through his tears. "Then let's go home."


	32. Chapter 32

Ron was still getting acquainted with the idea that Draco, Magstar, and Blaise were a part of their clique now. He had never thought that he would be friends with a Slytherin. To be honest, though, the snakes were pretty great. Draco was a cool guy once you got to know him. Maggie had spunk, wit, and (more importantly) a _wicked_ American accent. Blaise was funny and easy going, and it was impossible not to like him upon meeting him.

Ron was pondering these things while attending a Transfiguration lesson. He could see Maggie and Draco talking. Maggie was showing Draco a calculator (one of Ron's dad's favorite Muggle inventions) and Draco was absolutely fascinated. The pair of them had become quite close over the course of the past few days. Draco, Maggie, and Blaise were now inseparable. Ron was pleased that they now had each other to face the other Slytherins. He could not make every bully vomit slugs. In addition to the others, Blaise and Marilu were also often seen together. Even now, they were sitting side by side. Marilu was laughing at whatever Blaise had just said.

At that moment, Professor McGonagall looked up and saw Draco with the calculator. "Are you doing _math_?"

"Actually," said Draco, "it's a game. I mean, it's not a game! It's um...it's numbers."

The whole class erupted into laughter. Professor McGonagall was so amused that she did not even punish him. "Put the calculator away, Draco."

Draco reluctantly handed the calculator back to Maggie, who patted his shoulder sympathetically.

* * *

After class, Blaise and Marilu were still laughing.

"It's numbers," Marilu repeated. "It's not a game, it's numbers."

"That was hilarious," Draco admitted. "I don't even know where that came from."

"The dark recesses of your mind," said Maggie.

Draco then looked at her in a way Ron had never seen him look at any girl before, ever. It was a look of equal parts admiration and adoration. Ron knew this because that was the way he himself often looked at Hermione. He blushed at the thought.

"Come on, guys," said Marilu. "Let's get to the Great Hall."

The entire group, all twelve of them, liked to meet up in the dining hall. It was one of their favorite places to meet. While the others met to talk, Ron overheard Draco and Blaise talking quietly.

"You fancy Magstar, don't you?" asked Blaise.

Draco nodded. "I do."

Ron could not help himself. "I knew it."

Draco recoiled in shock. "You were listening?"

"A little," Ron admitted.

"I was, too," said two voices beside them. It was Harry and Neville.

Draco groaned. "That's all I need. Now you're going to tell her."

"No, we won't," said Neville. "At least…I won't"

"Neither will we," said Harry.

"Yeah, what's the fun in that?" asked Ron. "Once she knows, the secret's out and we don't get to make fun of you."

"Oh, joy," said Draco sarcastically. "I just love to be made fun of."

"We can make fun of him and Hermione," Blaise suggested.

"How did you-" Ron sputtered.

"It doesn't take a genius to see it," Draco rolled his eyes.

"Yeah," said Neville. "You can tell who everyone likes if you look properly. Harry likes Ginny, and Blaise likes Marilu."

"And you like Fiona," Draco added.

Neville just nodded, smiling a little.

Ron stared at Harry incredulously. "You fancy my sister?"

Harry looked at his feet. "Yeah."

Ron was wondering how to respond when Theodore Nott came prancing in with Crabbe and Goyle in tow. Ron almost laughed, remembering how Draco had once been that way. But Ron knew that Theodore would not change as easily as Draco did. Draco had higher priorities than Theo: he had a moral compass in the end. He had ideals. He may have had his prejudice, but he was not about to let people die because of it. Add to that the fact that he loved and respected his parents. If they said to respect Muggle borns and half-bloods, that was what he would do. Theodore, on the other hand, was an arrogant prat. He cared about himself more than anyone. The fact that he was a pureblood did not help to quell his pride at all.

"Hey, scumbags," he addressed the girls. "What have we here? Two mudbloods, four blood traitors, and a mixed blood." He looked disinterestedly at the boys. "And over there, we have one filthy half-blood and three blood traitors. How perfectly nauseating."

"Shut up, jerk," said Maggie, glaring at him. "Go bother someone else with your bad breath."

Cheneya laughed out loud. "There is _no_ coming back from that one, Nott."

"I don't believe I've ever met this new addition to the pack," said Theodore, staring coldly at Maggie. "The first Muggle born Slytherin in fifty years. Congratulations on being the freak that you are."

Cheneya punched him in the nose. "You shut your mouth," she screamed. "You shut your filthy mouth."

Taking advantage of her rage, Theodore goaded her further. "What's the matter? Did I hurt your pal's feelings? You really are a firecracker, just like your disgusting parents. Blood traitors, and cousins no less! And then they gave life to you and the pathetic Hufflepuff-"

Cheneya whipped out her wand. She used a second degree burning curse on him, and he began to howl in pain. At that moment, Filch came around the corner.

"Attacking fellow students?" he hissed in delight. "I'm afraid that calls for a detention."

Cheneya glared at him, but didn't argue.

"Come with me. We're going to see the headmaster about this," said Filch, motioning for her to follow.

Cheneya walked after him with her head held high.

"You cockroach," Ginny hissed. "This is all your fault. Cheneya doesn't deserve a detention for defending her family."

Marilu cast a healing charm on the boy, removing the burns. He sneered at her. "I could have done that myself."

"No, you couldn't," said Marilu.

"Why did you help him?" Fiona whined. "He's a jerk."

"Because we're all jerks sometimes," said Marilu solemnly. "Some more than others, like this son of a basilisk here."

Ron was not satisfied. "I want revenge."

"Why don't we have a duel?" Theodore offered. "All of you against me and the other Slytherins. True Slytherins, not the three in your gang."

"I accept," Ron said immediately.

Marilu looked uneasy. "How many other Slytherins?"

"All of them!" said Theodore triumphantly.

"That's not fair," said Harry. "There are twelve of us, and about a hundred of them."

"Too late, you already accepted," Theodore taunted.

"Where and when will the duel take place?" asked Neville.

"Tonight, in this very hall."


	33. Chapter 33

Sirius Black had his hands full. With the return of Regulus, he felt compelled to protect his little brother more than ever. He strengthened the security charms on the manor. He gave Regulus books on self-defense. And he was always checking if Reggie was eating enough, sleeping enough, getting enough sunlight. The last thing he needed was for one of his daughters to get into trouble at school.

So, of course, that is exactly what happened.

He paced back and forth in the library, reading the letter that Professor McGonagall had sent him to Regulus and Bellatrix. Regulus began to howl with laughter.

"She punched a student in the face? Dear Merlin, she's just like you!"

"It's just a detention, she'll be fine," Bellatrix shook her head, taking the letter from him.

"I can't help feeling like there will be more trouble after this," said Sirius worriedly. "Cheneya never fights without reason, and her friends will always back her up. They must be planning revenge as we speak."

"Relax. They're probably all fast asleep right now," Regulus patted his shoulder.

Sirius nodded and put the letter away. "I suppose you're right. I must be overreacting."


	34. Chapter 34

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry about how long it's been since the last chapter. The thing is, I was visiting Harry Potter World in Orlando, Florida (call it research, if you will) and I didn't have access to a computer. However, I did have my notebooks, so I've written a super long chapter to make up for the wait.**

* * *

Hermione paced back and forth in the Gryffindor common room. She was waiting for Cheneya to be released from her detention so that they could go to the duel. Harry, Ron, Neville, and Ginny were waiting with her, and Hermione could see that they were just as nervous as she was. Harry was poring over one of her dueling books. Ron was reading with Harry, but he would occasionally stare at his feet and look very guilty. He was clearly cross with himself for consenting to the duel without thinking about Theodore's trickery. Neville was tending to his magical plants. Ginny was practicing several different spells, slashing through the air with her wand. Meanwhile, Hermione was internally struggling. See, she loved rules. They were nice, linear, organized. She lived by them. They kept her, and everyone else, in line. Yet, somehow, breaking school rules was exhilarating. It was much more thrilling than she cared to admit. The fact that she was about to break two of the school's biggest rules (no staying up late and no dueling) both terrified and excited her.

As Hermione wrestled with her two conflicting thoughts, the portrait door swung open, and the other seven of their group stepped in.

"Do we have a strategy?" Cheneya asked immediately.

"I was thinking of trying attrition warfare, taking the enemy's resources until they're incapacitated," said Blaise. "By that I mean to take out all their strongest duelers, the oldest ones, first. One by one. By the end, only the little guys will be left, and we'll just hit them up with some stunners and be on our way."

Hermione massaged her temple anxiously. "It isn't that simple. There are so many of them, and so few of us. Merlin's beard, this was a mistake. There's no way we can do it."

"Sure, there is," said Ginny.

"It can't be any harder from what we'll face in Voldemort's lair," said Luna sagely. "In comparison, this must be child's play."

"We're going to be fine," Marilu assured her. "We've been training, remember?"

That was true. Every day, the group of friends gathered by the Great Lake to practice dueling. They worked on learning different spells, techniques, and footwork. As it turned out, Maggie was already quite well versed in dueling. There was a dueling club at Ilvermorny, which she had attended every day. Apparently, there were a lot of clubs in Ilvermorny. Americans were big on extracurriculars.

So in the days that followed their return to Hogwarts, the friends had rapidly progressed in their dueling skills. They had also started to study the basics of identifying their natural dueling style, learning how to use it to their advantage, and also being able to switch it up from time to time. That, in and of itself, was more advanced than most seventh years. Hermione felt herself grow calmer.

"You're right. We have a shot at this." She took a deep breath, her old enthusiasm and vigor quickly returning to her. "Harry, do you think we can leave now?"

Harry checked the Marauder's Map. "Not yet. The teachers are still patrolling the halls."

"Then let's get down to business. We should use the spare time to prepare. First of all, I want everyone to drink water. It won't do to have you dehydrated right before you face a giant mob of Slytherins."

"I'll go get some," Ginny volunteered. "There's a sink and a cabinet full of cups near the dormitories in case people get thirsty at night."

As she left, Hermione thought of what else they would need. "What about food? We'll need energy."

"I have candy," Harry offered, producing a package of Honeydukes treats from his pocket.

Fiona jumped up. "Candy?"

"Sugar ought to give us some extra energy," Cheneya acknowledged.

Harry distributed his candy as Ginny returned with the water. The group sipped on water and snacked on candy for a while. Slowly, the pre-duel excitement began to bubble up in all of them. Fiona turned cartwheels on the rug. Marilu played her funkiest mix tape and started dancing, along with Cheneya, Luna, and Maggie. Ginny and Harry started running around barefoot on the furniture, chasing each other and laughing like they had lost their minds. Neville, Draco, and Blaise came up with strange, obnoxious chants about the opposing team. Fiona was quick to join them.

"Two, four, six, eight!" Draco yelled. "Guys, quick what rhymes with eight?"

"Hate," said Neville and Fiona in unison.

"Ha, good one!" Blaise whooped. "Two, four, six, eight! What's the team that we all hate?"

"Theodore Nott and his cronies!" Harry yelled from his place on top of the mantel.

"Guys, you are not cheerleaders," Ginny cringed.

"How'd you even get up there?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

"Good question."

As the others kept cheering, Neville and Fiona eventually left their fellow cheerleaders and started dancing together to the tune of "Time After Time", by Cindi Lauper.

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione sat together, watching chaos unfurl.

"This is turning out to be quite the night," Ron reflected.

"Indeed," Hermione laughed.

"Are you still worried?" Ron looked at her anxiously.

Hermione sighed. "A little. But I know we'll be fine."

Ron was not the best at _guessing_ people's emotions, but if you told him how you felt, if you were honest with him, he was really sweet and understanding. Hermione loved that about him. In fact, she loved everything about him.

Ron then offered her a pumpkin pasty. "Will this make you feel better?"

She grinned. "Sure."

"Guys, it's time!" Harry yelled, waving the Marauder's Map around. "The teachers are asleep and Theodore Nott is leading his group out of the Slytherin common rooms. Let's run and beat him to the Great Hall!"

Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance. Ron held his hand out to her, and she took it. Together, they rose and ran to the duel with their friends.

* * *

As Hermione stepped into the Great Hall, she was buzzing with nerves and excitement. And, of course, the adolescent part of her brain was very aware that Ron was _still_ holding her hand. His hand was getting sweaty, but that was okay. Holding hands with him made her feel an uncomplicated bliss that strangely counteracted her anxieties.

Looking around at her friends, Hermione sniggered when she saw Draco swaggering, brandishing his wand heroically. Maggie was laughing under her breath at his bravado. She and Cheneya began strutting to imitate him, swinging their shoulders exaggeratedly. Hermione giggled at their antics.

And then she saw the opposing team.

It was a moment she would never forget. A huge ensemble of Slytherins followed Nott, Slytherins of every year and every skill level. There were inevitably some that did not show up, but the majority of the house did. They flooded in through the doors on the opposite side of the room. The candlelight gave them an eerie, horror-movie-like glow. Hermione felt her stress level peak, until Ron's hand momentarily tightened around hers. She looked up at him, finding hope in his warm hazel eyes. She suddenly felt completely calm, gazing at their group of friends.

They were outnumbered. They were surrounded. But they were strong.

"Let's do this," she told them, reaching for her wand.

The other side began to charge at them, malicious hexes already forming on their lips. Hermione took off running to meet them in the center of the Great Hall, along with the others. And so the duel began. Hermione found herself trapped with Ginny in a ring of seventh years. She and Ginny stood back to back, warding the jinxes off with extra strong shield charms. Hermione held up the shield while Ginny fought back.

"Congelo, Propellit, Rictumsempra, Avis…" Ginny continued to hex their opponents into oblivion until she and Hermione were freed from the ring. When she had finally gotten rid of all of them, Hermione high fived her, beaming despite herself.

"How does it feel to have beaten not just one, but twenty seventh-years?"

"I'd say it feels rather-" Ginny started to respond, but was cut off by a fifth year who attacked her from behind with a cutting jinx. Her face contorted into a grimace.

"What's wrong, little baby?" her assailant drawled in a mocking voice. He was pale and weedy, with a face that might have been handsome if it wasn't for his leering expression. "Are you going to cry, baby second year?"

Ginny did not cry, even lifting her chin a little. "This second year just took down several seventh-years."

Then she used a binding spell on him, launching thin, steel cords from her wand that wrapped around the boy, immobilizing him.

"These will also repress your magic," she teased in a sing-song voice. "Have fun!"

Hermione smiled, impressed. Ginny had obviously progressed far beyond the second-year skill level.

"Ginny!" Harry yelled, running towards her. "You're bleeding through the back of your robes!"

"The cutting spell," Ginny acknowledged, holding onto a dining table to steady herself.

"I got you," said Cheneya, walking over. "Sana!"

Ginny sighed in relief as the healing spell took care of her wounds. "Thanks."

"No problem. Tergo."

The blood was siphoned off her robes. "You're the best of the best, Cheneya!"

"I try," Cheneya joked, returning to her duel with five seventh-years. She had not allowed them to trap her in a ring, Hermione noted, observing that Cheneya's footwork was excellent.

"YOU LITTLE AMERICAN SCUMBAG!" a voice screeched from a few feet away. It was Pansy Parkinson, who was engaged in a one-on-one duel with Maggie. She appeared to have the upper hand, as Maggie was backing away slowly.

"Oh, no," said Ginny sadly. "Maggie…"

"Maggie isn't losing," said Hermione suddenly. "It's very clever, in fact, what she's doing."

Hermione knew that a losing person would be backing away very quickly, and very clumsily, in their haste to get away from the worst of the duel. Maggie's steps were slow and deliberate, almost dramatic.

"Brilliant," Hermione whispered.

"What is it?" asked Ginny. "What's she doing?"

"Just you wait," Hermione smiled.

Draco went running over to Maggie to help, but Hermione stopped him just in time.

"She's fine, Draco. She knows what she's doing."

Draco had the decency to look embarrassed. "Right. Sorry."

Hermione could see Marilu also watching the duel, visibly restraining herself from running to help. Her eyebrows spasmed, contracting violently into a terrifying glare. This was the key sign that one of the Black sisters was angry.

"That cow," she whispered to Hermione. "Pansy is such a jerk."

"She'll get what she asked for," Hermione giggled. "Just watch what Maggie does next."

Pansy grinned triumphantly as Maggie drew closer and closer to the wall. Maggie's spells were few and far in between, and Hermione could tell that she was forcing her magic to look weak. Suddenly, Maggie yelled, "Conjunctivitis!"

Pansy's eyes began to swell shut, and she shrieked in agony.

"I'll play nice and only give you one more painful curse," Maggie said sarcastically. "Which is far kinder treatment than you deserve. Mucus ad Nauseam!"

Pansy then began to sneeze violently. Maggie did not put on airs or show off her triumph. She simply turned her back on the bully who had tormented her and walked away.

"That was brilliant!" said Harry excitedly.

Maggie smiled genuinely. "Thanks. You're cool."

"It was truly amazing," Draco agreed. "Lulling the enemy into a false sense of security and then turning the tables on them. You're very clever."

Hermione then looked to the side and saw Ron in a much less pleasant situation. Unlike Maggie, he was actually struggling to fend off a ring of sixth and seventh years, much like she and Ginny had. However, Ron did not have a dueling partner with him. Hermione knew that the only reason that she herself made it out of her own ring was that Ginny was helping. Ron was alone. So, quickly congratulating Maggie and leaving the rest of the compliments to Draco, she ran to get Ron out of trouble.

" _Petrificus Totalus_ ," she yelled, knocking a sixth year out of the way so that she could enter the ring with Ron.

"Hermione?" Ron seemed like he could hardly believe she was there.

"I've come to help out a little," she shrugged. "Incarcerous!"

Ropes shot out of her wand and tied up a seventh year. She didn't bother to use magic restraints, aiming to get rid of Ron's opponents as fast as possible. Ron conjured an extra-strength shield charm to protect her while she worked.

"Nice spell," Hermione complimented him while using a jelly brain jinx on a sixth year, watching the girl collapse into temporary insanity. If she had been looking at Ron, she would have seen his ears turning red.

They managed to knock out the rest of the ring.

"Thanks," said Ron breathlessly.

"No problem," she grinned.

"Cut it out, lovebirds," a fifth year rolled her eyes at them. "What, is the girl going to save you from all your duels?" she asked Ron.

"I wasn't saving him," said Hermione adamantly. "I was helping out."

"It looks to me like you saved his skin."

"That's the great thing about Hermione," Ron grinned. "If you're in a jam, she's right there."

"Sounds like a good friend to me," the girl smiled briefly. "You know, I don't really want to fight you. Not all of us do."  
"You don't have to," said Luna, stepping out from her own duel, which she had just won. "It's okay to do the right thing."

The girl raised her eyebrows. "Maybe you're right."

She ran off, disappearing into a corridor.

"Wow," said Ron. "I didn't think…just…wow."

"Not all Slytherins are bad," said Blaise.

Ron jumped. "I didn't see you there."

Hermione laughed, leaving them to their banter.

* * *

By the end of the night, the entire mob of Slytherins were either off to bed or collapsed on the floor.

"Let's go to bed," said Hermione, looking at the clock.

"Why don't we party?" said Fiona, who had been fighting at Neville's side the whole time.

"It's midnight. The party can wait for tomorrow."

Together, the exhausted group of friends strolled back to their common rooms, singing "Eye of the Tiger" as they went. Hermione felt a flutter of joy underneath her fatigue. Their group had accomplished the impossible, distinguishing themselves as the best duelers in the entire school.


	35. Chapter 35

Narcissa nervously wrung her hands together as she and her husband approached Dumbledore's office.

"Draco wouldn't do this sort of thing, would he?" she asked Lucius. "He's usually so well behaved."

Lucius, on the other hand, barely bothered to hide his excitement. "But dear, haven't you heard? He and his friends beat over a hundred other Slytherins, and there were only twelve of them! Our son is practically a prodigy."

"A prodigy that's broken the school rules so badly, his parents are getting called in to the headmaster's office," Narcissa facepalmed.

The door to the office swung open, granting them admittance. Inside, Narcissa could see Bellatrix, Sirius, Lily, James, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Xenophilius Lovegood, Professor Snape, the Longbottoms, and the Zabinis. Dumbledore was nowhere to be found as the parents of the teenagers talked about the duel, expressing either worry or pride. Bellatrix and Sirius were laughing so hard, they were crying.

"I should have seen it coming," Sirius howled. "Of course they would do something like that. Dueling a hundred Slytherins at once!"

"And they won!" said Bellatrix excitedly.

"But it was so dangerous!" Molly Weasley protested. "They could have died."

"They wouldn't have died," Lily countered, "but they could have gotten hurt. In fact, they probably did."

In the corner of the room, Snape and the Longbottoms were talking animatedly, probably about Neville and Fiona's part in the duel.

"Cissy!" Bellatrix cried, grabbing her sister by the hand. "Welcome to the party!"

"A party? Really?"

"Don't be so cynical. Our kids just won a duel against-"

"A hundred Slytherins, I know," Narcissa completed the sentence. "And I'm proud, I really am, but I worry for those kids. If the victory goes to their heads, they'll think that they're unstoppable and get themselves into all kinds of trouble."

"Oh," Bellatrix's face fell. "I didn't think of that."

"They have common sense, though," Lucius protested.

"Yes, enough common sense to go charging into duels in which they're hopelessly outnumbered," Molly continued to fuss.

"Which is precisely where we come in," said Dumbledore, striding into the room, accompanied by Professor McGonagall.

"Severus?" Professor McGonagall looked surprised to see the Potions Master there.

"I'm here for Fiona, as I am her uncle, and her own parents could not attend this meeting. In loco parentis," said Professor Snape.

"Wonderful. You can come in now, children," said Professor McGonagall, gesturing to something or someone in the halls.

The kids that had participated on the winning side of the duel shuffled in. Narcissa saw her son standing between his old friend, Blaise, and a Slytherin girl she had never seen before. The girl had shiny, dark blue hair and light green eyes, the color of sea foam. Perhaps this was the girl that Draco had told her about in his letters, the Ilvermorny Muggleborn who got sorted into Slytherin. Draco looked up at Narcissa and Lucius, his eyes widening. He ran to them, as all the students ran to their parents.

"Mum, Dad, I'm sorry about all this, but Theodore challenged us and insulted us, and we couldn't just-"

"It's okay, darling," said Narcissa softly. "What's done is done. I just wish you would have told me first."

"Sorry," Draco said again, looking at his feet.

"All his forgiven, son," said Lucius cheerfully.

The room then fell into silence as Dumbledore began to speak.

"As you all very well know," Dumbledore began, "dueling among students is forbidden and must be dealt with according to the rules."

A chorus of disapproval went out among the students.

"It's not fair."

"He started it."

"I mean, I saw this coming."

"Don't give us detention, please!"

"I want candy."

That last remark was from Fiona.

"However," Dumbledore continued, "there are some special circumstances, and I believe this may be one of them. Furthermore, I like to hear both sides of a story before I make a decision. I have heard plenty from parents of the opposing team, and I would now like to hear what these students have to say for themselves."

"It all started when we were talking in the Great Hall," Harry recalled aloud. "Theodore Nott came in with Crabbe and Goyle and insulted all of us, calling us blood traitors or mudbloods."

"So, I told him to go bother someone else with his bad breath," said the Ilvermorny girl, smirking.

Cheneya snickered, and even Dumbledore cracked a smile. Narcissa was already liking the Ilvermorny girl.

"He called Maggie a freak," Marilu continued, "so Cheneya punched him."

At that point, they had to pause, because Sirius and Bellatrix were in stiches. When they regained their composure, Cheneya picked up where Marilu left off.

"He saw I was mad and took advantage of that, insulting Mum, Dad, and Marilu. In hindsight, I should have seen that. Anyway, I used a second degree burning curse on him and got caught by Filch."

"I remember that, yes," said Dumbledore. "You got a detention."

"After that, we were angry at Theodore, because Cheneya was only defending her family," said Ginny.

"I said I wanted revenge," said Ron sheepishly, "so Theodore proposed a duel. I accepted without thinking."

"What were the terms of the duel?" asked McGonagall, taking out a notepad.

"I don't remember his exact words," Ron began.

"But I do," said Hermione. "He said, 'All of you against me and the other Slytherins. Real Slytherins, not the three in your group.'"

"So, when you accepted, you didn't realize that you were up against _all_ the Slytherins, correct?"

"That's right," said Hermione. "Ron thought he meant a few from their year."

"Thank goodness. I'm glad you have some self-preservation."

Dumbledore seemed to consider the story for a moment before coming to a decision.

"Very well. Because you won the duel at such impressive odds, I award two hundred points to each of your houses. And now that I know your side of the story, I won't give you the extreme punishment that this would otherwise warrant. Instead, your punishment will be spending Friday nights from five to six at Professor Lupin's office, for extra Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons."

"Yes!" Cheneya cheered. "I love that guy! He's like my uncle."

Dumbledore smiled. "Now that we have the matter settled, would anyone care for a lemon drop?"


	36. Chapter 36

Luna was very pleased that the meeting with Dumbledore had gone so well. It was not much of a punishment, after all, to spend Friday nights from five to six visiting their favorite professor. She had honestly expected worse, and they probably deserved worse, but she did not plan to go into those sorts of duels again. Or any sort of duels, really. Her love of peace and harmony surpassed her desire to fight others. However, she would defend her friends if she had to. She had explained this to her father, who had worked so hard to instill the values of meekness and forgiveness in her, after the meeting was concluded.

"I didn't seek the fight, Daddy. The fight came to me," she pleaded. "They insulted Cheneya, Ron agreed to the duel, and I couldn't abandon them. They needed all the help they could get. What if I wasn't there? What if someone had gotten killed?"

Her father had agreed with her in defending her friends, but he told her that, in case this ever happened again, she did not have to accept. Ron could not accept on behalf of the entire group. If one of them declined, the duel was void. Luna made a note of that for future reference. Since it was already nine at night by the end of their conversation, her father had bid her goodnight and sent her up to the Ravenclaw tower to get some rest. The next day would be Sunday, when she could sleep in, but her father insisted on her going to bed anyway.

The next morning, Luna was suddenly very thankful for her father sending her to bed at a decent time, for she woke up at seven in the morning to the blaring of a record player.

" _Think of me, think of me fondly…"_ a soprano's voice rung out though the Ravenclaw tower.

" _The Phantom of the Opera_ ," Luna said aloud to herself. "I always did like that musical."

She rose from her bed and put on her blue slippers, the ones that had Blibbering Humdingers painted on. She bounded down the steps to the common room without bothering to step lightly. If the music downstairs had not woken her roommates up, nothing would. She found Cheneya and Marilu right next to the record player, singing along.

" _We never said our love was evergreen, or as unchanging as the sea,"_ Luna joined them.

They sang until the end of the song, even though some of the notes were much too high for them (Cheneya and Marilu were contraltos, and Luna was a mezzo soprano).

"That was fun," said Luna happily as the next song, "Angel of Music", started playing. "Where's Fiona, by the way?"

"Shower," said Marilu. "I expect she'll be here soon, though."

"She hates _The Phantom of the Opera_ ," Cheneya added. "Says it's scary."

"I suppose that a masked man running around killing people and kidnapping a soprano that he's in love with would seem frightening to some," Luna noted.

"It's not like that," Marilu shrieked. "I mean, yeah, he did that stuff, but he was also mistreated throughout his life for having a disfigured face. The world wasn't fair to him."

"What I believe Marilu is trying to say," Cheneya explained, "is that what he did was not justified, but he wasn't exactly lacking a good reason. He had a complex: he would never be accepted by the world, so he turned on it. It isn't right, but it's true. Many people would have done the same in his shoes. It takes a strong set of values to overcome that."

"And everyone deserves redemption," said Marilu. "Maybe if he said sorry at the end…"

"Have you ever seen a book, play, or movie that ends with a masked killer apologizing?" asked Luna jokingly.

"In my head, they all do," said Marilu solemnly.

"Oh, come ON!" said a familiar voice in the entrance to the common room. "This again?"

It was Fiona, her dark brown hair still dripping from her shower and plastered against the sides of her face. Even in her irritation, there was the ghost of a grin playing at her lips. Fiona was rarely ever in low spirits.

"Hello, Fiona," said Luna pleasantly.

"Hi," said Fiona, smiling. Then she seemed to remember her previous train of thought and continued, "Why do you guys like _The Phantom of the Opera_ so much? It's scary!"

"You haven't even seen it!" Cheneya laughed. "We should take you to see it with us in a Muggle theater."

"I heard that the King's Theatre, in Glasgow, is going to show it," said Marilu. "We should go together."

"No," said Fiona adamantly. "It's scary."

"We'll bring Neville, too," Cheneya teased. "And when you're scared, he'll hold your hand…"

"Say no more, I'm going! Sign me up!" said Fiona jumping up. "Let's skive off class and watch this lovely musical of yours."

"It's Sunday," said Luna, giggling at Fiona's antics.

"And the King's Theatre isn't playing it today," said Marilu. "It's next Friday. If we leave after Professor Lupin gives us our 'detention' for that day, we can catch the 7:30 showing."

"Brilliant," said Luna excitedly. "I'll write to my father right away, to see if we can go!"

She ran to get some parchment, excited to see the musical once more. A wistful smile crossed over her face as she thought of the first time she had seen it. It had been with both of her parents, while her mother was still alive. That particular event stood out with startling clarity among the usual haze of her childhood memories. Yes, she remembered it all. The velvet curtains, the music that seemed to sweep you away with it, her mother's affectionate laugh at her awestruck expression…Luna felt her eyes start to sting with unshed tears as she recalled that day, one of the last that she had spent with her mother before the accident.

" _Do you like it, little Luna?" her mother had asked, playing with her hair._

 _Luna was so amazed with the beautiful, haunting melodies that the Muggles had come up with, that it seemed inadequate just to say she "liked it"_

" _I love it," she said empathetically._

 _Even without understanding some of what was going on in the play, she got the gist, and the music spoke for itself._

" _Your father took me to see this play when I was sixteen," said her mother, smiling tenderly. "I think I was just as amazed with it as you are now. It's not like anything we have in the Wizarding World, is it?"_

 _Luna looked up at her mother and grinned. She knew then that her mother knew exactly how she felt, she had lived it before. It made Luna feel warm inside, to know that she did not have to say anything to explain the magic feeling that the musical stirred in her. Her mother had also experienced that awe._

Luna felt a single tear drop from her eye and slide down her face slowly. She did not bother to wipe it away, stepping towards her trunk. She opened it and took out some parchment, and her well-thumbed copy of the original novel for _The Phantom of the Opera_ , by Gaston Leroux. She had first read that book when she was twelve. It made her feel close to her mother every time she turned over the pages, yellowed with age but still bearing the smell of crisp parchment. It had helped her understand the plot better than she could at the young age of five. Now, Luna would see the play again, accompanied by the best friends a girl could ever have. She knew that her mother would be pleased.


	37. Chapter 37

Andromeda sat in her parlor, drinking tea with her sisters. This was the third time this week that they met up for no reason in particular, only to enjoy each other's company. They discussed everything except for work (which was a pleasant break). Today, Bellatrix and Narcissa were telling her about the latest adventures of their kids.

"Apparently, they want to see _The Phantom of the Opera_ ," said Bellatrix. "Cheneya and Marilu both wrote to ask me and Sirius. I said it was fine by me."

"Draco wrote to ask me and Lucius the same thing," said Narcissa. "I don't know where this sudden Phantom craze came from. He was practically begging."

"Cheneya and Marilu must have advertised well," Bellatrix remarked. "They loved the musical since the day they first saw it. It was about two years ago, I think. The girls went absolutely mad for it. They wanted the music on a CD and everything. I thought that they would tire of it eventually, but they still listen to it. Would you believe that I've been getting complaints from parents of Cheneya's fellow Ravenclaws because sometimes she and Marilu play it in the early morning?"

"I don't blame them," Andromeda laughed. "It was beautiful music, not to mention an interesting plot."

"You read the original novel when we were twelve, right?" asked Narcissa.

Andromeda nodded. "It was a great read."

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Bellatrix set her tea down and raised her eyebrows at Andromeda. "How's Dora?"

Andromeda looked around suspiciously to see if there was anyone in the corridors that could be listening. Satisfied that she and her sisters were well and truly alone, she lowered her voice to a whisper, "I think she fancies Remus. And I also think the feeling is mutual."

Narcissa nearly spit out her tea. Bellatrix smirked, completely unfazed.

"I had always wondered when Moony would get married. He's been a bachelor for too long," she commented idly.

Narcissa's look of shock increased and Andromeda put a hand over her heart in horror.

"Marriage, Bella? _Marriage_? Don't you think you're jumping the gun a little? Imagine, my little Nymphadora leaving the house at the young age of twenty!"

"I mean, she's going to move out eventually," said Bellatrix. "And Remus is a good guy. Honest, kind, sensitive…as good as it gets these days."

"He's so much older," Narcissa muttered, shaking her head.

"And isn't he a-" Andromeda swallowed thickly. "A werewolf?"

"That doesn't change the fact that he's a good man," said Bellatrix, defending her old friend fiercely. "It isn't his fault that he got bitten by a werewolf at the age of seven."

"I know, it's just…" Andromeda looked out the window. "It's difficult. Respecting him is easy, but when it comes to marrying my daughter? It's different."

"Try," said Bellatrix softly. "Just try."

Andromeda nodded, resolve filling her. "Okay."


	38. Chapter 38

Quidditch practice was going very well for Cheneya Black.

"Impressive!" shouted Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw captain, as she shot between the beaters, narrowly avoiding both bludgers. "On a Comet 360, too."

Cheneya grinned. She was one of the Chasers for Ravenclaw. She loved her position on the team, and would not trade it for anything else.

"Thanks," she shouted back.

"You really need a new broom, though," said Jeremy, one of her fellow Chasers. "Comet 360s are kind of old, and the newer brooms go much faster. You're going to have to work hard to match a Nimbus 2001 for speed.

"I don't need your sass right now, Jeremy," Cheneya quipped.

"Cheneya can beat a Firebolt if she wants to," Cho Chang added. "It's the player, not the broom."

"Yeah, but-" Jeremy began.

"Jeremy! We've had enough of your sass!" said Cheneya, trying to keep a straight face.

She heard someone snickering near the Quidditch pitch. She turned to see Dean Thomas watching her, covering his mouth to suppress his chuckles. She stuck her tongue out at him, causing him to double over with laughter.

"What are you doing here, kid?" Roger raised his eyebrows. "Spying on the Ravenclaw strategies?"

Dean raised his hands up in mock surrender. "I was just watching. You know I'm not even on the Quidditch team."

"Either you were here to spy," Roger began.

"Or you were here to watch a girl," Jeremy finished.

Dean immediately reddened and muttered something under his breath. Cho Chang looked at Cheneya and smirked. Cheneya blushed and averted her eyes. Although Cho Chang had always been pleasant enough to her, she did not want her finding out that she fancied Dean.

After Roger and Jeremy had finished pestering Dean, Roger flew up to meet the others.

"I think we've had enough practice for today, especially now that this guy is spying on our strategies," he jerked a thumb towards Dean.

"I'm not spying," Dean shouted.

"It's a girl, then," said Roger. "Even better reason to call it quits."

Cheneya ran to meet Dean after she had changed back into Ravenclaw robes.

"I hope they didn't give you too hard of a time," she told him, walking beside him on the path to the castle.

"They didn't. I'm used to it by now," Dean shrugged.

He turned his head to look at her and they both grinned. Cheneya and Dean had become good friends since they were paired up to be partners in potions class a few months ago. Cheneya, who had always found Dean rather attractive, had eventually started to fancy him.

"I finished reading _The Hobbit_ ," Dean told her, shaking her from her thoughts.

Cheneya looked up in excitement. "What did you think?"

"It was great. Much better than _1984_ ," said Dean.

Cheneya was getting Dean, who had never been much of a reader before, to read all her favorite books one by one. Some of them he loved, some of them he hated.

 _At least I'm getting him to read more_ , thought Cheneya with some satisfaction.

Dean's face seemed to light up with a sudden idea. "Hey, do you want to go skating with me on the lake."

"I would, but I'm not any good at skating, Dean."

"That doesn't matter. I can help you," he said earnestly. "Please?"

"Okay, Dean," Cheneya smiled. "Let's go."


	39. Chapter 39

Lily Potter read over the long chant for the Revelare ritual with Bellatrix and Alice. The chant would have to be the first thing they tackled. After they got it down, they would have to learn the rituals specifics, a complicated procedure of pouring the juice of a mango on their heads and soaking their hands in saltwater from the Mediterranean Sea for an hour on the day before the ritual. Finally, they had to memorize the intricate dance steps, and how to make their magic flow through each one. Lily knew that they would have to go about it with the utmost care for it to work.

"Let's see," Lily began, " _Contingentes spiritum, contingentes spiritum…"_

Her voice rang out loud and clear through the library. The words possessed an ancient dignity, and their haunting melody only added to their effect. Lily could feel their magic vibrating within her, even though the words were ineffective without the rest of the ritual in place. This, Lily knew, was a good sign.

"That part of the chant is used to establish contact with the spirit," said Bellatrix. "Next is, _Ipsum revelare._ "

" _Quod ostendam vobis abscondere,_ " Alice sang in a powerful soprano. Lily got a chill down her spine.

" _Ostende faciem tuam_ ," Bellatrix chanted.

" _Ostende arcanum tuum, ostende arcanum tuum_ ," they sang together, " _Et non abscondam anima. Ipsum revelare."_

"Perfect," Lily exclaimed. "Now we memorize it."


	40. Chapter 40

Marilu walked up a flight of stairs with Fiona and Luna to the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom.

"Where's Cheneya?" asked Fiona. "She's going to miss our 'detention' with Professor Lupin."

"She's skating on the lake," said Marilu knowingly. "With Dean Thomas."

Fiona's head turned so fast, it nearly snapped. "She _is_?"

"They would make a nice couple," said Luna happily. "Dean almost matches Cheneya for recklessness."

"Yeah, but Cheneya will have hell to pay when she gets here," said Marilu, gesturing to Fiona, who was laughing maniacally.

"Ah, she'll live," Luna giggled, opening the door to the class.

Professor Lupin was in a very good mood. He did not see them at first, as he was busy wrangling a few unruly kappas. He was humming to himself as he worked. Marilu smiled. He was truly in his element in this job.

"Hello girls," he said when he finally saw them. "Welcome to your first tutoring session. Would you like some butterbeer?"

"Yes, please," said Marilu. The others nodded.

While Professor Lupin went to get the butterbeer, the girls wandered around the room, staring at some of the oddball creatures they would learn to fight someday.

"I would like to learn how to capture a Nargle," said Luna thoughtfully. "That would be quite interesting."

"I think he's going to teach us fighting skills," said Marilu. "You know, for person to person combat."

"We'll need it," Fiona muttered under her breath.

The three of them exchanged a look. Professor Lupin (or Uncle Lupin, as they called him away from school) had no idea that they were planning to fight Death Eaters so soon after the duel with the Slytherins. He could not find out, under any circumstance, or he would tell their parents and bar them from going.

The door to the classroom opened once more, with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Maggie, Draco, and Blaise behind it.

"Sorry we're late," said Harry. "Lost track of time."

Cheneya then burst into the classroom, still wearing her winter clothes, with a light dusting of snow on her glossy black hair.

"Hi all," she said cheerfully.

Professor Lupin came back with the butterbeer. "I see everyone has arrived."

After drinking their butterbeer, they jumped straight into the lesson.

"Let's start with the Patronus charm," he told them. "Quite useful for fighting off dementors. Do any of you already know how to cast one?"

They looked around at each other, shaking their heads. Marilu realized that this was an instrumental part of magical defense that they had forgotten to practice. There would for sure be dementors where Voldemort hid. Learning this spell was long overdue.

"What you must do is think of your happiest memory. Focus on it, immerse yourself in it. Try to relive it," Uncle Lupin instructed.

Marilu thought of winning the duel with the Theodore Nott's Slytherins. She remembered the feeling of victory, how close she felt to her friends.

"Once you've found your memory, say the incantation: Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum," all of them said at once.

The tip of Marilu's wand glowed white, but nothing else happened. Luna, Neville, Fiona, and Ron managed to conjure a wisp of white smoke, but no one went further than that.

"Don't worry, it's a difficult process," said Uncle Lupin. "Try something that involves love. Lots of love, because that's where true happiness is found."

Marilu thought of last Christmas. She had been surrounded by friends and family, and they even reconciled with Draco. She was not sure if it was the best memory of them all, but it was on the top ten list for sure. It was worth a shot. She closed her eyes. "Expecto Patronum!"

When she opened her eyes, a large cloud of white fog had emerged from her wand. It had not taken a shape, but it was the best anyone had done thus far.

"Excellent work, Marilu!" said Uncle Lupin excitedly. "What was the memory you used?"

"Last Christmas," said Marilu simply. She knew that everyone knew what she was referring to.

"Ah, yes," said Lupin nostalgically. "Christmas celebrations, and other important holidays, often host a plethora of happy, loving memories. But is there any event that made you feel even happier?"

Marilu thought of Christmas Mass, Advent wreathes, the smell of incense in the church, and a powerful, spiritual feeling within the depths of her heart while she prayed.

"Expecto Patronum!" she shouted at the same time as Cheneya and Maggie.

Three matching wildcats leapt out of their wands. They gasped, exchanging a shocked look.

"Awesome!" said Maggie, high fiving Marilu and Cheneya.

"Wonderful!" Lupin clapped for them. "Splendid job, girls.

They continued to practice casting until everyone had unlocked theirs. Neville and Fiona both shared a bear patronus. The bears playfully ran around the room together and refused to be separated, to the amusement of everyone in the room. Blaise ended up with a jaguar patronus, and Draco got a dragon patronus. Harry cast a stag, Ron cast a terrier that chased Hermione's otter patronus around, Luna cast a hare, and Ginny cast a horse. For the remainder of the class, Uncle Lupin let them duel a little bit to practice their skills. Time flew by, and before they knew it, it was already six in the evening.

"Good job, everyone," said Lupin. "See you on Monday. Have fun at _The Phantom of the Opera._ "

"Thanks!" said Marilu, waving goodbye.

They had to rush to get ready for the show, donning Muggle clothes and grabbing some spare change for tickets.

"Shouldn't we convert this into Muggle money?" asked Ron, staring suspiciously at the small pile of Wizarding coins in Marilu's open hand.

"Not if we know what we're doing," said Marilu mysteriously. She had done some research about The King's Theatre, and had discovered that it had a secret entrance for witches and wizards.

Cheneya ran into the room, wearing a plain black shirt, a wine-colored skirt, and black leggings. "Let's go."

They travelled to the theater by the Knight Bus, even though that was for emergencies, strictly speaking. Marilu led her friends to a small wooden door a little ways away from the Muggle ticket booth.

"This is the wizard's entrance," she whispered. "It has light Muggle repelling charms on it, and only witches, wizards, and Squibs can open it. It's also charmed so that Muggles won't see us come in."

They opened the door and stepped in. There was a ticket booth and a stairwell, just like the room they had previously exited. Marilu stepped forward.

"Twelve tickets, please," she said to the ticket seller, dumping their accumulated pocket money onto the table.

After they got their tickets, Marilu led them up the stairwell.

"This stairwell ends in the same place that the Muggle staircase ends," she explained. "After this, we'll be mixed in with them."

When Marilu finally led them to their seats, the show was about to start.

"Here we go," she whispered as the curtains opened.

And after that, all twelve of them were immersed in the magical world of the theatre.


	41. Chapter 41

Alice Longbottom quietly knocked on the door of the Potions classroom. She exchanged a glance with her husband, wondering if Professor Snape would be here at this hour. He was. The door swung open, and he beckoned them inside.

"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom," he greeted them in his usual drawling tone. "I presume you're here to discuss your son's grades? Neville has been doing remarkably well as of late."

"Actually," said Frank, "we're here to discuss something else."

Professor Snape closed the door behind them. "I'm all ears."

"It has come to our attention that Neville has a crush on your niece," said Alice.

"It has come to my attention that my niece has a crush on Neville," Professor Snape replied smoothly. "What do you propose we do about it? They seem to be running in circles around each other, and have been for years."

"I think we need to get these kids together somehow," said Frank.

"Are you asking me to go from a potions professor to a matchmaker?" asked Professor Snape. "Because if you are, I will gladly do so."

"Excellent," said Alice, smiling. "Let's get started then."


	42. Chapter 42

Fiona had held Neville's hand through the entire play. She was also very, very high on sugar.

"Guys, I love sugar," she announced as she and the others were leaving the theatre.

"We know," said Ginny. "You've made that very clear through the years."

Marilu laughed. "Never change, Fifi."

Fiona knew that she could be extremely facetious at times, but life was better that way. She was light hearted, light tempered as well, and it was fun to live like that.

"Think of me, think of me fondly…" she started singing.

"I take it you enjoyed the play, then?" asked Cheneya.

Fiona nodded. "It was still scary, though. At some parts."

"Guys, let's stay up all night and play Galaga at a Muggle arcade!" said Ron enthusiastically.

"Yeah!" Fiona agreed.

"We have to get back to Hogwarts," said Hermione. "Let's go tomorrow."

"Pinky promise?" asked Fiona, holding up her pinky finger.

"Sure," Hermione smiled, linking pinkies with her.

"Make the Unbreakable Vow," said Cheneya dramatically.

"No thanks," said Hermione.

"I'm kidding!" Cheneya laughed.

When they finally reached Hogwarts, they immediately fell asleep in their dormitories, not waking up until many hours later.


	43. Chapter 43

Maggie, Draco, and Blaise sat together in the library, exhausted with all the studying they were doing.

"I'm dead inside," Blaise groaned. "Why do all the teachers assign tests on the same day?"

"Good question," said Draco, burying his head in his hands.

Maggie still had to finish the homework that she had been procrastinating. They were all very stressed, tired, and generally overwhelmed. Maggie suddenly remembered a place Marilu had showed her, and stood up immediately.

"Come on, guys," she told them. "We're taking a break from studying."

She led them down into the kitchens.

"Why did you take us here?" asked Blaise, confused.

"We're going to do some baking," said Maggie with a grin. "We're going to bake a rainbow layer cake."

Maggie had always been quite talented at baking. She had liked to bake with her parents at home, before she came to Hogwarts. She wanted to share her pastime with her friends (or, when it came to Draco, with her crush).

They ended up having great fun. Blaise was an okay baker, but Draco was absolutely hopeless at it. Every time he tried to do something, he needed Maggie's help, whether it was cracking eggs or whisking batter. It was endearing. He was completely helpless in the kitchen. Despite this, the trio created a delicious, fluffy rainbow layer cake that had thick chocolate icing between every layer. In fact, the cake was smothered with the rich, chocolatey icing. It was awesome. Blaise also prepared some pasta for the three of them, and that was what they ate.

"We need to do this again sometime," said Blaise happily.

"Every time one of us is stressed with school," Maggie agreed. "That's when we'll bake."

"Sounds like a plan," said Draco, grinning. "That was fun, even if I did mess up a lot."

Maggie patted his hand sympathetically. "Should we get back to studying, then?"

They ate their cake while they studied, taking a bite between each question they answered. Maggie was working on keeping the image of a flour-coated Draco, beaming up at her from whatever mess he had made in the kitchen, out of her mind. It was difficult to focus with that adorable picture dancing on the edges of her thoughts.


	44. Chapter 44

James Potter found Lily writing a letter to Harry.

"What's our son up to?" he asked, pulling up a chair to sit by her.

"I'm teaching him the quadratic formula," Lily explained. "I was just giving him some problems to work on. It's amazing how he takes to math like a fish to water."

Lily had always found it important that Harry study Muggle subjects as well as magic. She made James learn, too, when they started going out.

"He's also given lengthy descriptions of Quidditch practice, which I'm sure will interest you," Lily continued, passing James a letter.

James eagerly began to read. After he finished the section on Harry's Quidditch adventures, he noticed that Harry wrote an awful lot about Ginny Weasley. "Hey! Since when does Harry fancy Ginny? He never talks about girls in _my_ letters."

"Harry tells me everything, dear," Lily informed him.

"How long have you known?" asked James, indignant.

"Well, he first told me the day before Christmas break was over," said Lily thoughtfully, "but I knew long before then. It was getting rather obvious."

"Why wouldn't he tell me?" James sighed, putting his head in his hands. "I'm an understanding, sensitive man…"

Lily laughed aloud. "Are you joking? This is what you would do if he told you."

She then proceeded to imitate James, slinging her arm around his shoulders and ruffling his hair to resemble a tumbleweed.

"Atta boy, Harry, you go get your woman," she said in a deep voice.

"That does sound like something I would do," James admitted. "And then I'd probably run to tell Padfoot and Moony."

"Need I say more?" Lily sat back down. "You would tease him for weeks. You have the sensitivity of a brontosaurus."

"It would have been easier on him if he had told me firsthand," James smirked, a plan quickly taking shape in his mind. "I'm going to send him a Howler right now…"

"Oh, I hardly think so," Lily rolled her eyes. "Give the kid a break. He's in love."

James pouted. "Fine."

"And when he starts dating her, don't even think about pulling that prank you used for poor Cissy's first date with Lucius," Lily warned, smiling despite herself.

James laughed aloud at the memory. He had hired a Mariachi band to follow the couple around. "First of all, that was Sirius's idea. I only carried it out. Second of all, you thought it was hilarious. You _helped_."

Lily collapsed into a fit of giggles. "It was great fun. I'm only telling you not to use your Mariachi band on Harry."

"Can I use them on one of his friends?" asked James pleadingly.

"I'm not averse to the idea," Lily consented.

At that moment, Hedwig flew into the room and deposited a letter onto Lily's desk. She picked it up, scanned through it with her eyes, then looked up at James with a wicked grin. "He wants to pull a prank on Neville and Fiona."

James jumped up excitedly. "Tell him to hire a Mariachi band!"

Lily started laughing again. "Why don't you write the letter, James? Pranks are your area of expertise."

So for the next half hour, James wrote detailed instructions on how to carry out the prank, with Lily helping him organize his thoughts.

Half an hour later, Severus Snape found himself with a very hyped up James Potter in his classroom.

"You want me to let a Mariachi band into the school?" he asked, not surprised. After all, this was James Potter.

Over the years, Severus and James's relationship of forced tolerance had grown into one of grudging cooperation. They were not quite friends, but Severus had learned to move on from the past.

"Do it for Feville!" said James.

"Feville?"

"Yeah. Fiona and Neville."

"Merlin's beard, James," Severus groaned, putting his head in his hands.

"Will you do it?"

"Fine."

"Thanks! I knew I could count on you, Sevvy," said James, running out of the room.

"Don't call me Sevvy!" Snape yelled indignantly as James disappeared down a corridor.

And so, the day continued for both men, one of them planning a fantastic prank, and the other grading students' essays. Little did either of them know, tragedy was about to strike.


	45. Chapter 45

Blaise adjusted his Slytherin tie as he walked into the Great Hall. He passed the Slytherin table, where Maggie and Draco were talking in earnest about something. Draco was gazing tenderly at the blue haired girl, making Blaise chuckle. He moved onto the Hufflepuff table, where the girl he was looking for sat. Marilu Black was quietly eating her porridge, seeming lost in her own thoughts. He walked over and sat down next to her.

"Hey," he said cheerfully.

She beamed at him, making his heartbeat stutter. "Hey."

"You ready to spend all day in a Muggle arcade?" he asked, cracking his knuckles.

"Is that even a question?" Marilu joked, raising her eyebrows. "I'm a hardcore gamer."

"I'm the best gamer," Fiona announced from the seat on Marilu's other side.

"Fiona, you get distracted within the first two minutes."

Fiona laughed, then proceeded to hum _The Point of No Return_. That was when an owl came soaring through the window.

Fiona wrinkled her nose. "That's Ray's owl. I wonder why he's writing."

Blaise looked up at the bird warily. Fiona didn't like to talk much about her father, but Blaise knew enough about him to assume the worst. There were warning bells going off in his head as Fiona's pale hands reached for the letter, which Blaise could tell was written in fury. There were small streaks of ink from points where the writer had been pressing so hard that the nib of the quill broke. Fiona hastily opened it, clearly just wanting to get this over with. Blaise watched in horror as her face crumpled. Fiona had to take a moment to register whatever cruel words were written there before the floodgates opened and she started crying desperately.

"No!" she gasped, tears streaking down her face. "No, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening."

Marilu hugged her. "What is it, Fiona?"

Shoulders shaking as she heaved sobs, Fiona handed the letter to Marilu. Marilu looked horrified as she saw the message.

"Fiona," she read aloud for Blaise's benefit. "I'm writing to you to tell you that your mom is dead. I killed her. You'll have to find new parents now, because I'm officially disowning you. A filthy Hufflepuff like you never should have been in the family. I'll be joining the ranks of the Dark Lord shortly, and if you ever cross my path again, you'll go down the same way _dear_ Camilla did."

"I'm so sorry, Fiona," Blaise told the devastated girl.

"Do you want to go to the Common Room?" asked Marilu gently.

Fiona shook her head. "No. Not the Common Room. Take me to Uncle Sev's classroom."

Blaise and Marilu then took her by the arms, as she was weak from grief, and led her out of the Great Hall.

"Fifi!" Neville cried, running to her.

Fiona collapsed into his arms. "My mom-my mom-" she choked out. "Ray killed her."

"Sweet Merlin, what a bastard," Neville spat.

It seemed to be what Fiona needed; someone to share in her anger, which was exceed only by her sadness.

They took her to the Potions Classroom, where Snape was. Fiona passed the letter to him, and he buried his face in his hands, crying. He took Fiona into his arms and let her go to pieces.

Blaise wished he could do something. This was not fair: Fiona was a ray of sunshine in everyone's life. She should not have to go through this. And Professor Snape…this was his _sister_.

"I'll never see her again," Fiona whimpered. "I'll never look into my mother's eyes until I get to heaven."

"I should have known," Snape breathed. "The fearful eyes, the doomsday phrases at Christmas, the excessive travelling through the years…she knew it all along. She knew what was coming."

"What do you mean?" asked Fiona indignantly.

"Ray didn't do this on the spur of the moment. He killed Camilla in cold blood: He had been planning this. He was waiting for Camilla to get out of his way so that he could officially disown you, who would be considered a disgrace to his family name, and become a Death Eater."

"Why didn't Camilla tell the Ministry?" asked Fiona. "They could have stopped Ray-"

"The Ministry is corrupt," Snape told her gently. "Ray used to have a lot of sway there up until today."

"She could have divorced him."

"Yes, she could have. And yet, she could not."

"Could you be more plain?" Fiona asked, confused.

"Our world is controlled by blood in more ways than one, Fiona," Snape began. "It's not all about pureblood supremacy, although that played a great part Camilla's death. See, Ray was part of an ancient pureblood dynasty: He was a Canavar."

"I know that," Fiona growled, "and I don't care. He and his fancy dynasty can go to hell."

Everyone was taken aback by that. Fiona had never cursed before, not in her life. She had always reprimanded people for saying things as simple as "hell"

Ignoring the minor use of foul language, Snape continued. "The Canavars can trace their heritage back to the Middle East, thousands of years ago, though no one knows which precise area they were from. Pureblood families of that region were famous for blood rituals, and the Canavars were no exception. I could spend all day telling you about the blood magic that the Canavars carry from their predecessors, but Ray was bound by one of the most important ones. The original Canavars saw family as one of the most sacred unions in this world. This extended to marriage, which is where Camilla comes in. As long as they were married, Ray had to honor her. We all know that what he did was far from that, but the blood ritual prevented him from harming her to an extent, and from doing something that she abhorred. People who married into the Canavar family got to choose one thing that they would rather die than have their spouse do. Then they went to one of the Custos Sanguines at Gringotts-"

"What's a Custos Sanguine?" asked Fiona. "And what do they have to do with Gringotts?"

"A Custos Sanguine is a perpetuator of blood magic. They're experts on it, from ancient to modern, dark to light magic. They understand it all. And Gringotts isn't all about money, Fiona. They handle matters like these as well; the inheritance of a blood ritual. Camilla went to a Custos Sanguine when she discovered Ray's secret affiliation with the Dark Side. She got to make one wish, the one thing that she would never have Ray do, and that was becoming a Death Eater. Camilla wanted to protect you, Fiona. You were two years old at the time. Imagine what a Death Eater father could do to you, especially after you were sorted into Hufflepuff nine years later! But that wasn't all. Camilla knew that Ray could be vicious. For all her flaws, your mother was a pure soul, Fiona. She knew that she had it in her power to prevent hundreds of casualties, and she did. For a time, that is. She knew that he could kill her, but she never thought he'd dare, as the blood ritual covered that, too. The original Canavars made the murder of a family member, especially an immediate family member, equal to slaying a unicorn: It would sever a bond so beautiful, so sacred, that you would be forever cursed if you did so. Ray will live a cursed life now. Camilla had not realized that he was willing to subject himself to such a thing, as it takes extreme dedication to a cause to put up with such torture. That was exactly what Ray developed. In the months before Christmas, Camilla probably noticed that his solidarity to Voldemort had become a fixation, and he would gladly kill her to get her out of the way. He would be cursed no matter what his actions were to join the Dark Side, and if he killed Camilla, he would at least have the power to disown you and spare himself the shame when he went to join the Death Eaters. Camilla knew her fate, so she made her move on Christmas. She said her goodbyes, set things right between you two, and warned you of the things to come, albeit cryptically. I don't know how that monster got to her, but he probably tracked her down on whatever work trip she was on and killed her then," he finished tearfully.

Fiona's hand went to the white seashell necklace that Camilla had given her on Christmas. "I'll never take this off," she said quietly. Then a hard expression came into her eyes. "And I won't stop until I've avenged her."


	46. Chapter 46

Remus Lupin watched Fiona Snape, clad in a plain black dress, stand next to her uncle at her mother's funeral. Her stormy blue-grey eyes, once cheerful, were now downcast and mournful. Severus Snape held her hand while he delivered anecdotes about Camilla. Remus could remember Camilla from his days as a Hogwarts student. She had not been particularly close to him, but she had spoken to him before. She'd been a friendly soul. Remus felt a strange guilt for not speaking to her more often. It felt odd to be at her funeral, like hovering outside of a bubble and not being able to enter in. He could not do much besides pay his silent respects to the peaceful looking corpse that was being lifted into the coffin. It was odd, how the blood magic seemed to have preserved Camilla's form. Her body had not been mangled in any way from the murder, her silken hair was splayed out over her shoulders, and her lips had curved into a peaceful smile, like she was enjoying a pleasant dream. Fiona reached for Camilla's hand, and her eyes widened in surprise. Remus knew exactly why: Camilla's skin would be cold, the only outward sign of her death.

This was really like watching a movie. A depressing, tragic movie.

After the funeral was over, Fiona, Severus, Neville, and Remus headed to Gringotts. Fiona wanted to go to a Custos Sanguine, to see what kind of blood magic she carried from the Canavars. She had insisted that Remus come along because he was an expert on Defense Against the Dark Arts, and she was worried that there may be dark magic in her blood. She wanted Neville to come along because…well…he was Neville.

Griphook took the group to a goblin called Fractcumulus, the Custos Sanguine who had helped Camilla. Fractcumulus led them to a well-furnished room, with four plush chairs set in front of a mahogany desk. Remus got the eerie feeling that the goblin had been expecting them. He glanced around at the stone walls and the elaborate carvings in them. _Ancient runes_ , he observed.

Fractcumulus sat down in his desk, though he was barely visible among all the magical apparatuses on the table.

"I always wondered when I'd see you here," Fractcumulus mused. His voice was deep and soothing. "You look a lot like her, you know?"

Fiona's eyes sparkled with unshed tears, and she ducked her head. "I came to learn about the blood magic," she told him after she had composed herself.

"A prudent choice," Fractcumulus commended her. "Now, stretch out your arm."

Fiona did so. He whipped out a pocket knife and gave her a very small cut on her wrist, drawing a single drop of blood. He collected the blood on one of the magical instruments on his desk before waving his hand and instantly healing the wound. The gadget, a silver cylinder, began to emit red steam. Fractcumulus took a piece of parchment and let the steam swallow it. When he pulled it back out, it was covered with runes, most of which Lupin recognized. He was relieved to see that none of them contained Dark magic.

Fractcumulus paled, however. "Ray's murder made him ineligible to claim the Canavar fortune," he told Fiona. "That makes _you_ the heiress."

"How is that bad?" asked Fiona excitedly.

"It could make you Ray's target," said Fractcumulus somberly.

"If he's already ineligible to claim the inheritance, killing Fiona won't help him get it back," Snape reasoned, and Lupin nodded in agreement.

The goblin brightened at that. "True enough. And the blood magic has increased its protections against Ray. I suppose the original Canavars must have thought of that. If he killed one family member, he could kill another…in any case, it will be even harder to kill you than it was to kill Camilla, should Ray decide to do so."

"Good," said Fiona drily. "I don't plan on dying."

Fractcumulus studied the rest of the runes on the parchment. "Nothing harmful on here…it seems that a lot of the original magic that bound the Canavars is no longer effective. Perhaps it's because you refuse to take up the Canavar name. You're still the heiress, and you still have the blood protection, but that's about it."

"No dark magic then," said Fiona happily. "The only question is what to do with the money."

"I suggest you save it," said Snape.

Fiona wrinkled her nose. "Saving is boring."

Remus laughed fondly. Now, Fiona's situation was resolved. She didn't have any dark magic in her blood, and Snape would take custody of her. Everything had worked itself out.

Or so he thought.


	47. Chapter 47

It was nearly summer vacation, and Fiona was expected to move in with her uncle. Harry never thought otherwise. He and the others were busy getting ready for the next Hogsmeade visit, when they would finally break into Voldemort's lair. After one particularly intense training session, Fiona was skipping through the halls and badgering Ron to give her candy. That was when they saw the ministry officials, led by a toad-like woman in pink. They were engaged in a heated debate with Snape.

"She is my niece, and I have already proven that I have the correct conditions to raise a child-"

"Yes, but you have a rather...unfortunate...past, don't you?" the toad-faced woman smiled saccharinely. She then had the nerve to pull up the sleeve of Snape's robe, exposing the Dark Mark and tapping it with her finger. "A former Death Eater can _hardly_ be trusted with an innocent child."

Harry felt a burning anger rising in his chest. Although he had never liked Snape, he hated the unfairness of this all.

"Professor Snape isn't a Death Eater now, is he?" Harry snapped. "He works closely with Dumbledore, he's a member of the Order, and he _loves_ Fiona!"

"Mr. Potter, I don't recall asking you to meddle in my affairs," said Snape wearily.

But Harry was in too deep to stop.

"Who do you think you are?" he snarled at the Ministry officials. "Fiona is my friend, and if you think I'm going to let her get torn away from her uncle by some bossy pink toad, you're crazy."

Snape looked surprised, and almost grateful, as the toad woman turned her attention to Harry. She glared at the boy.

"I am Dolores Umbridge, Secretary to the Minister of Magic, and I'll have you know that I have a senior position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I'll see to it that you suffer for your impertinence."

"I can handle my own son, Dolores," came Lily Potter's calm voice.

Harry spun around. What was his mom doing in school? He saw that she was flanked by his dad, Sirius, and Bellatrix.

Umbridge sniffed irritably. "Really? You're doing a fine job of it, if 'handling your son' means 'raising an insolent fool' in your book."

Bellatrix clicked her tongue impatiently. "We didn't come here to put up with your nonsense, Dolores Too-Many-Titles Umbridge."

While Dolores narrowed her eyes, Sirius nodded to Snape.

"Severus," he said shortly. "A word?"

Snape arched an eyebrow. "Of course," he replied. Harry reasoned that he must really be desperate to get away from Umbridge if he was being this polite. He opened the door to the potions classroom and beckoned the four inside.

"Umbridge," James drawled. "You'll stay here."

"I will not be ordered around; I am the Secretary to the Minister of Magic-"

Everyone was ignoring her. Fiona and Neville slipped inside the room after the adults, Cheneya and Marilu ran in after, and Harry barely had the time to jump in before the door swung shut.

"We want to split the guardianship with you," said Sirius immediately. "Trixie and I."

"By what flawed logic do you find that a good idea?" Snape snapped. "What _right_ do you have to claim the guardianship of Fiona?"

"We love that girl as much as you do. If we split the guardianship, Umbridge won't be able to refuse you, and Fiona will get to spend her time with the people that care about her," said Bellatrix diplomatically.

"Also, imagine the look on Umbridge's face when she finds out that Fiona's guardianship is being split by a former Death Eater and a pair of blood traitor cousins," James was howling with laughter.

Lily sighed. "James, now is not the time."

"I'll fight Umbridge with every bone in my body," Snape seethed. " _No one will take my child away from me_!"

"They can," said Lily sadly. "I've studied all the clauses in the Wizarding Child Guardian Policies of the United Kingdom. There are rules against former Death Eaters claiming guardianship of a child, but there are loopholes. This is one of them: Splitting the guardianship with a married couple with no criminal record and at least one child. It may be the best chance you have, Sev."

Snape looked shocked at the childhood nickname being used, but he gamely recovered. "You will never have Fiona, you bastard," he spat at Sirius.

"Well, at this rate, neither will you, you greasy douchebag," Sirius snapped back.

"You will never amount to anything in life."

"You're pathetic."

"You're stupid."

"Nobody likes you."

"You tried to kill me in fourth year!"

"You tortured other students in fourth year!"

"ENOUGH!" Cheneya yelled. "Can you put aside your petty schoolboy grievances for TWO SECONDS? Fiona's happiness is at stake, so will both of you please GET IT TOGETHER before Umbridge decides to stick her in an orphanage or something?"

The room went silent. Bellatrix seemed torn between siding with her daughter and punishing her for her rudeness. Sirius had the decency to look embarrassed, and Snape dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"Alright," he told Sirius and Bellatrix. "I'll split the guardianship with you."

"Truce?" asked Sirius tentatively, holding out his hand.

"Truce," Snape agreed, taking the outstretched hand and shaking it.

Harry gave Cheneya a thumbs-up, and put a supportive arm around Fiona, who looked very pleased.

"Can we go announce the news to Umbridge?" asked James hopefully. "I can't wait to see her reaction."

And so they did.


	48. Chapter 48

"Today."

It was a simple word from Marilu's mouth, but it felt like a death sentence. What was today? Today was the fateful Hogsmeade attack day. Today was the day that other students would relax and enjoy a day off in the castle. Today was the day that the Death Eaters would be intercepted by the Order, unaware that there would be no students to attack. Today was the day that the Potter Squad had prepared for. They would break into Voldemort's lair with the alter ego revealer. Fiona ran a finger across the smooth vial that held the potion. They had trained for months. Would it be enough?

"He won't be at the attack," Draco informed them quietly. "He stays out of the spotlight unless it's important. Likes the element of secrecy. I suppose that makes people respect you more, when they witness your power, but don't often see your face."

"Then we'll get him for sure," said Cheneya confidently. "Okay. Is there anything anyone would like to say before we go?"

"I have to pee," said Fiona.

Cheneya groaned. "Go now."

Fiona ran off to do her business. When she returned to the Hufflepuff common room, Ginny was holding aloft a jar of Floo Powder.

"Is there anything anyone else would like to say?" said Cheneya wearily.

"I secretly listen to the Weird Sisters' music," Ron confessed.

"I was the one who stole the shortbread cookies that Maggie baked two months ago," Harry admitted.

"I wanted those!" Fiona protested.

"I used to want a pet unicorn," said Blaise, uncharacteristically bashful.

"I thought you still did," Draco was confused. Blaise swatted his arm.

"Are we done confessing things?" asked Ginny. "Because I'd really like to get this over with."

"Me too," said Cheneya. "Let's say a prayer, and then we'll hit the road."

One "Our Father" later, and they were off. Wandering the streets of Knockturn Alley, Fiona lightly touched her seashell pendent. It gave her strength in moments like this. She felt quite odd. Yesterday, she had not felt so much as a drop of fear. She had been excited, super pumped to face old Voldy. But today? Some strange feeling had washed over her, a wariness of sorts. Like there was something they had forgotten, something that could go terribly wrong. That was impossible, though, right? After all the training and planning, how could they make a mistake?

"It's here," said Draco, looking down at the map and stopping.

Before them was a run down, two-story shack. The grey paint was peeling, and the wood that showed was rotten. It looked like it could collapse at the slightest nudge.

"Wands out," Hermione ordered, though they already had done so. Knockturn Alley had that effect on people.

They cautiously approached the door. Harry reached out to silently open it. He put a finger to his lips. Any sound could give them away.

As they moved through the dingy hallways, Fiona realized that she had to sneeze. She fought the urge to do so. She fought and fought and fought…for about two seconds.

"Achoo!" she sneezed, burrowing her face in the crook of her arm. The relief was wonderful until she realized what she had done. The others looked at her in horror. She shrugged apologetically. The group looked around, waiting for someone to come for them. Nobody did, so they proceeded.

Just as Cheneya reached for the handle of a door, the footsteps thundered.

"Shit," she cursed. Fiona didn't have the heart to tell her off for swearing.

As the footsteps drew nearer, everyone ran into the room, shutting the door behind them. They were in what appeared to be a small arena.

"Wait, why are we hiding?" asked Blaise. "Don't we _want_ to fight?"

"Not if we're pointlessly risking our lives," Maggie countered.

"We'll have to eventually face them," Blaise argued.

"Oh, don't worry about that," said a low, raspy voice. "You're about to."

They turned in horror. Fiona wasted no time.

"Expelliarmus!" she yelled.

The man effortlessly sidestepped her spell. He clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Is that really your best effort? Pitiful."

As all the others whipped out their wands and started launching all the spells they had practiced. The man had erected a powerful shield that blocked every one of them. Safe behind his magic wall, he pointed his wand at Fiona. She went shooting through the air until she hung, suspended in the air, by his side. She wasn't able to move a muscle.

"You're a feisty one," he told her quietly, "and the feisty ones always get punished first."

Bands of green flames wrapped around her until they were pulled taut against her skin. They burned until crying was not enough to soothe the pain. She found herself screaming, screaming her throat raw.

"Fiona," said Marilu in horror, beginning to cry herself. Fiona wanted to say something to comfort her, but she was overwhelmed by the pain. What was this? Surely it was even worse than the Cruciatus!

"Wands down," the man ordered, "or she'll be the first one we feed to the pets."

Everyone dropped their wands, but they were not yet submissive.

"What pets?" asked Hermione.

"Where's Voldemort?" yelled Cheneya.

"LET FIONA GO!" Neville shouted.

Ignoring Neville, the man answered, "Voldemort left this hiding place years ago, you little fool. We've been using it ever since for the pets, our brave little gladiator fighters."

"No," Hermione breathed, but nobody heard her. What they did hear was an unearthly bellow from Neville. A rush of wandless magic burst from him in a shockwave. Fiona dropped to the ground, free from the curses. The man fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Neville?" Fiona called a little shakily.

He ran to her side as she picked herself up. Neville, her Neville, had saved her. He had been there to protect her when it counted the most.

"How'd you do that?" was all she could say.

It was then that she noticed he was crying. "Fiona, I care for you more than you could possibly imagine. I could never let that man hurt you. I could never let anyone hurt you." He took a deep breath. "And what today has showed me is that I can't take any day for granted, because that might be the day I lose you. I think it's time to stop stalling." He paused. "Fiona, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes! Yes!" Fiona cried joyfully. "A million times, yes!"

Before they could kiss, Hermione interrupted their moment. "I know we've been waiting for this to happen all year, but can we take a minute to acknowledge the peril we're in?"

"What's wrong, 'Mione?" asked Ginny.

"This had better be quick, lady," Fiona raised a menacing eyebrow. At least, she tried to. She ended up raising both eyebrows. Neville laughed.

"The man said that the 'pets' were gladiator fighters. Don't you know what that means?"

"No, but I think I can guess," said Harry cheekily.

"It's an atrocity in the world of magical crime. I suppose it's a lot like the gladiator fights in Ancient Rome. People pay to see trained wizards fight magic beasts- or each other- to the death. That explains how skilled of a dueler that man was. He must be an expert in the ring. Now he wants to feed us to those animals."

"But I thought we were at the Dark Lord's place. Did we get the address wrong?" asked Ron, puzzled.

"No," Hermione sighed. "I think we were using an outdated map."

" _We were using an outdated map?_ " said Ginny furiously. "All that planning, all that sneaking around, and nobody ever bothered to _check the date_?"

"You're as much at fault as the rest of us, Gin," Neville shrugged.

"I can't believe this," Maggie ran a hand through her sapphire hair. "We weren't prepared at all. We thought we were so clever, but we walked right into a death trap."

"I'll bet they have all sorts of Dark objects they could use against us," Draco noted in horror. "Knockturn Alley sells those dime a dozen."

"Calm down, everyone," said Blaise. "Alright, we learned our lesson. Now we need to get ourselves out of this situation."

"Oh, why leave so early?" came a sinister voice. "The fun is just beginning."


	49. Chapter 49

A dome of white light, crackling with energy, formed over them, trapping them. A man in a shabby pinstripe suit observed them in amusement.

"Hello, all," he greeted. "Usually, I like to have spectators at a show, but this will have to do."

He held a metal scepter with several buttons on it. Ginny sneered. "Why all the fancy gizmos? Face us with your own magic, why don't you?"

He just laughed. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I'm not nearly as good a dueler as Rastaban, who you managed to take out. I'm just your humble businessman in the joint."

He pressed a button that opened a trapdoor in the wall, another that slid out a spectators' booth, and a third that freed them from the white orb cage. Ginny ran to the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"Locked," the man said, stepping into the spectators' booth. "Don't bother."

Seemingly out of nowhere, a chimera was in the room, stepping towards them with murder in its eyes.

"Well, we're fried," said Ron. "It was nice to know you all."  
Draco turned desperately to Hermione. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Nothing," said Hermione. "We can stall the inevitable."

"Wait," said Cheneya. "There's one kind of magic. One that surpasses all. One that might save us."

"What?" asked Harry.

Cheneya nodded to her sister. "It's called love."

The beast crawled towards them, growling. Marilu stepped forward, a serene expression on her face. She reached out and touched its mane.

Ginny's heart nearly stopped. Her head seemed to be screaming _this is madness, this is madness, this is madness._ And yet, the chimera did not advance. On the contrary, it closed its eyes and allowed her to touch it.

"You tamed it," Hermione said in disbelief. "You just tamed a chimera."

"I didn't tame it. I calmed it down," Marilu corrected.

"How could you know that would work?" asked Neville, who still had a protective arm around Fiona.

"We didn't," Cheneya replied. "We just read a paragraph on it while we were looking for books on animagi transformations. It said something like 'A pure and loving heart conquers even the most ferocious beasts.'"

"No!" shouted the man in the pinstripe suit. "This isn't possible!"

"We should probably leave," Maggie deadpanned.

"Ride the chimera!" Draco swung both legs over the creature.

"Draco, considering your history with hippogriffs, I don't think that's the best idea you've ever had," said Blaise.

Draco ignored him. "Chimera, take to the streets!" he yelled as Harry ran to join him.

Somehow, inexplicably, the chimera did as he said. It began to lumber towards the door. Their captor laughed maniacally.

"I told you, it's locked-"

The chimera reared up on her hindlegs and knocked down the door. Harry and Draco fell off, landing with a thud.

Maggie sarcastically golf clapped. "Majestic."

Draco laid a dramatic hand over his heart. "This is a difficult time for me, okay?"

"Guys, run!" Hermione shouted.

"What?"

"RUN!" she pointed to the man, who was exiting his spectator's box to chase after them.

They bolted off, the braver ones jumping onto the chimera's back as it charged to the nearest exit.

Only in her wildest dreams had Ginny ever conceived the possibility of riding out in the open (notably in the heart of Knockturn Alley) on the back of a chimera. Yet here she was.

"Chimera, take to the shady road over there!" Draco pointed.

"That looks suspicious," Cheneya raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to parade our chimera around in the open. That's an open invitation to get mugged," Draco snorted. "And we're in Knockturn Alley. Literally everything here is suspicious."

"Live a little, Cheneya!" Fiona laughed.

With that, they rode into the shady street. They had barely gone a few meters when people started to creep out from shadows, malice in their eyes. Their grimy hands reached out, eager to take whatever they could, as they were taught to in Knockturn Alley. They drew steadily closer to the group.

"Live a little, Cheneya," Cheneya mimicked Fiona.

For once, Fiona had no comeback.

"Chimera, take to the skies!" Draco commanded.

"It has no wings, idiot," Ginny facepalmed.

"My broom!" Harry said urgently. "It could seat four people. Maybe another four could hang on the bottom."

"That's eight. We have twelve," Draco informed him. He had been trying to back out of the alley, but people were blocking up the entrance as well.

"The birds," Neville muttered. "Cheneya, Marilu, you said that your animagus forms are birds, right? If you transform now, we could cast a feather light charm on two people and you could each carry one back. Yes, I know you've never transformed before. But you're our only hope."

The sisters nodded. As Harry got out his broom, Cheneya and Marilu joined hands. Closing their eyes, they seemed to summon a wind that whipped around them so quickly, it blurred them as they shrunk and morphed into…

Crows?

One of them, who Ginny assumed was Cheneya, gave a triumphant caw.

"Let's go!" said Harry, casting feather light charms on Maggie and Draco, who had volunteered to be carried by Cheneya and Marilu.

"What about my chimera?" Draco howled as a crow lifted him up.

"She'll fight better alone. We'll see her on the other side of this mess," Ginny tried to comfort him.

Harry motioned for her to sit right behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist. Blaise and Ron sat behind her. Neville, Hermione, Luna, and Fiona held onto the tail end.

"Hope this works," Harry said cheerfully.

Hermione began to cast feather light charms on everyone so as not to weigh down the broom as Harry shot into the sky.

They quickly soared above the town, their loyal chimera racing beneath them. They would reach Hogwarts in a matter of minutes.

There would be hell to pay when they did.


	50. Chapter 50

Severus Snape was not happy. Neville nervously shifted towards his girlfriend, waiting for Fiona to appease him.

"Hey, Uncle Snape," said Fiona casually. "'Sup."

"What have you twelve been up to?" Snape tried to glare at Fiona, but found his attempt unsuccessful and pursed his lips instead.

"Oh, nothing much," Fiona blinked innocently.

Snape's eyes were, naturally, drawn to the chimera behind them. "'Nothing much' indeed. Fiona, I want the truth and I want it now."

Harry, who was currently clutching his Firebolt as if it was a lifeline, took a deep breath and answered for her, "Sir, I think you'd better take a seat."

* * *

Neville had learned over the years that there were different types of angry. Some people flew into a rage. Some people yelled. Some people used scathing words. Snape was calm-angry, and this was the most terrifying kind of fury.

"You found yourselves capable of defeating one of the most powerful wizards of all time," he stated, his voice dangerously low.

"Yes," said Fiona.

"You trusted entirely in your underdeveloped abilities to defeat skilled, merciless warriors," he continued. "Are you really that advanced? Shall I take you out of school, since you appear to know everything?"

Neville was starting to realize how stupid their entire quest had been.

"What. Were. You. _Thinking_?" Snape seethed.

"We wanted to help. Sorry, sir," said Marilu, dipping her head.

"We could have done it," Cheneya muttered.

Marilu gave her a look, and she relented.

"What am I going to tell your parents?" Snape put his head in his hands. "Do you realize how hard this day has been for them? Narcissa and Lucius openly gave up allegiance to the Dark Lord, Alice nearly died, and you twelve decided it was a fine idea to go Dark Lord hunting."

Neville gasped. What had happened to his mum? Was she alright?

He felt Fiona's small, pale hand close around his in solidarity.

"I suppose you think you were doing the right thing," Snape guessed, "but know this: It's selfish of you to throw yourselves into thoughtless, unnecessary peril. It's our job to fight. It's yours to stay alive. Why do you think we're working so hard? We're battling for _your_ future."

He shook his head, and stood up. "I'm going to ask Dumbledore what the best course of action is. Your parents will be notified. Expect the worst."

He left the room with a sweep of his robes, leaving the twelve to wonder what on earth their parents had gone through.


End file.
